Ways to find new customers through sales channels (hunting)
Written by Jamie May
This is really a new series where we look at prospecting, or finding new clients. It’s 20 times harder to get a new customer than retain an existing customer, it’s hard work, very few people are any good at it. But here are the main ways to find new customers. Outsold can help with all of these.
Prospecting in Sales (hunting)
Prospecting – Creating a list of prospects and contacts
Cold calling – on the phone calling prospects
Warm calling – making a call to a known person
Hunting – very specifically target an individual
Social media stalking
Canvassing – Door to door introductions
‘Plus one’ whenever you do a presentation invite the neighbors
Meet the neighbors – drop in to your local businesses
Networking – Talking to friends and family/ co-working space/ any shoulder rubbing
Referrals – Recommendation from past client
Reviews – Online experience gauge
Success story – Writing a one page story about past work
Conferences – Industry specific networking
Partnering – Complimentary businesses sharing leads/ market intelligence
Expertise – Speeches, industry promotion
Inquiries – Potential customers that have expressed some interest – like website, inbound call
Lead generation – cold calling to make introductions or meetings
Seminars – an educational session
Drinks – Coffee or alcohol with your prospects
Introductions – finding two people that can deal with each other, or asking a friend to introduce you
Lunch and learn – meet with a group of people that will potentially use or advocate your service and sell to them in an educational way
Advocacy – Teaching your prospect how to sell your product to their management on your behalf
Philanthropy – raising revenue for a cause
Gifts – many negotiations need gifts, otherwise called bribes
Education – teach people about your product or service
Multi level marketing – recruit your friends to sell on your behalf
Email campaigns (sales) – cold expressions of interest/ cold appointment requests
Add-ons – land and expand, sell a small thing then sell more, tip of the spear
Industry expert – Having a niche
Region expert – have a geographic patch, Be the grass-mowing guy in your neighborhood, the local area lawyer
