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December 3, 2019

This Seller-Doer Sales Strategy is Right in Your Own Backyard

Let me start with a few questions. As a seller-doer…

#1. Do you live in or near a fairly large city? [Everyone in NY, Chicago, Atlanta, LA and even in places like Nashville & Baltimore are putting their hands up in the air.]

#2. Do you have clients or potential clients (i.e. sales prospects) based nearby? [Most of the hands stay up.]

Final question. Have you visited any of those clients or prospects, in-person, in the past 3 months? [That sound you hear is all of the hands dropping.]

Why is that? Why would we not visit nearby “business opportunities” in-person?

Interestingly, this phenomenon is very prevalent in our industry. When asked why they don’t visit nearby clients or prospects, most seller-doers will respond with, “We’re really busy!” or “I don’t like driving into the city.” or “Emailing is so much easier.” or “But I do call them occasionally.”

Unfortunately, every one of those excuses (and that’s really what they are) pale in comparison to the reason why you should be making in-person visits. Simply put…

“People do business with people they like.”

And building (and strengthening) those ‘friend’ relationships can really only be done in person.

As a seller-doer, visiting existing clients should be your #1 priority. And here’s why… keeping and growing revenue from existing clients is the easiest, most cost-effective and most profitable way of growing your business. Period. Why is that? Because your existing clients already know you, like you and trust you. And they’ve proven that they will spend money with you. The reverse is also true – you know the client – so, as the supplier, there is no ramping up or having to learn their business, like there is with new clients.

Keeping and growing revenue from existing clients is the easiest, most cost-effective and most profitable way of growing your business. Period. Click To Tweet

A few other thoughts about this…

An important subset of existing clients is your Key Accounts… your very largest clients. If you have any of those in your backyard, you should be a regular fixture in their offices… meeting with key contacts, doing lunch-n-learn presentations, taking them out to dinner and so on. While all clients are important, you large clients are more important.

Meeting in-person with sales prospects may be a little less comfortable (than meeting with existing clients) for seller-doers. So, to get started here, try this…

Reach out to a nearby prospect with this kind of message, “Hey John, I’m going to be down the street from you next Thursday for a 10am meeting… any chance you’ll be available for a cup of coffee before that?”

  1. Even if you don’t have a scheduled meeting, tell John that you do. It’s a very logical reason for you to reach out and connect.
  2. Meeting at a nearby coffeeshop (not their office) is less formal and will likely lower barriers for a more casual and candid conversation. And besides, who can resist a free latte?

So, for all of you seller-doers, here is my recommendation for a [very achievable] goal to set for yourself moving into 2020: Schedule at least one day each month to spend in town, doing nothing but meeting in-person with clients and prospects. Do that… and I promise two results by the end of the year:

  • You will have developed much deeper, more personal relationships with those contacts.
  • You will also earn more business than you do now from those contacts.

Not bad, huh?

Good luck and good selling.

 

Are you a seller-doer… or do you have them at your firm? If so, the Seller-Doer Workshop™, an online sales training event starting January 10th, is for you. Participants graduate from this program with the tools, tips and techniques to help them acquire new clients, keep (and grow) existing ones and create a personalized sales plan. Learn more at www.SellerDoerWorkshop.com. Early Bird registration has already started… and ends December 13th.


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