Sales organizations that find themselves stuck atop a plateau are often there because they are relying on habits that may have produced good results in the past, but are less fruitful or counter-productive in the present.
As human beings we are habitual, meaning that we create habits that convert into a routine. The problem with a routine is that it only produces a fixed level of productivity. Sales people develop routines under which certain components are productive and others are counterproductive and usually result in a lot of wasted time and money.
Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity is:” Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
Let’s examine some of the most common mistakes made in a process of business development:
- Your marketing campaign is too general – you can’t be everything to everybody, thinking that it will bring you more customers. You need to figure out who your customer is, research their needs and requirements, and direct your marketing efforts to those individuals or companies.
- Too much focus on your products or services – Your prospects’ primary concern isn’t that you’ve been in business for 25 years, but whether you know the problem they want to solve. You must identify at least one common problem of your prospects and the benefit of using your product or service
- Lack of Follow Up – when marketing for my clients or for myself, I use a “pleasantly persistent” approach. Without being a “pest”, I keep regular contact with the prospects using email, and the phone to follow up and close the sale. Unless you hear a definite “NO”, don’t give up.
- Failing to invest sufficient time and effort – In order to build relationships it takes a considerable amount of time and energy. Companies that succeed are those that have a clear objective and implement a strategy based on market research and a commitment to seeing their efforts through to completion.
- Not Focusing on Repeat Business – Repeat business typically makes up 80 percent of customers in most businesses. Too often marketing campaigns are heavily focused on bringing in new customers and not building relationships with current ones.
2 Responses to “5 Common Mistakes to Avoid in Your Business Development Strategy”
Good post Marshall. Another point you could emphasize is that most sales guys focus on their solution and pay far too little attention on getting to the bottom of the customer’s problem.
In my contact center efficiency practice, I have developed business conversations that yield the responses that can tell me how much my consulting can save them which brings me to my last point… Sales guys should ask the kinds of questions that bring out the biggest pain. Here’s an example: Company x loses $ 3 per transaction because of abc reason. They sell 400 units per day across Canada. So they are losing $1200 per day ($1200 x 5 days per week x 52 weeks a year = $312000/ year. Reduce that problem by half by introducing your product or service and you’ve saved your customer $150 K per year. Wow! But how do you find that pain fix?
Every industry has its bottle necks. By asking people what their biggest problem is in their sector right after you ask them what they do, you can develop a credible “big money” pain fix that you can use in an elevator instead of an elevator statement. I do this all the time and it’s a lot of fun to see the reactions from the C-level… Especially in my niche where tiny changes save millions.
Charles
The toughest thought for most entrepreneurs to overcome is that they can’t be all things to all people. Once they get that thought out of their mind, things start to fall into place.