Call your A prospects to get more business

Do you need to drum up new business? Here are three top tips for doing so.

1. Add 20 new “A” level prospects to your list and call them. An “A” level prospect is the person you most want to do business with. He/she buys the right amount, at the right price, in the right time frame. Criteria for an “A” level prospect can include industry, size of company, department, level of decision-maker and geography. To determine the makeup of your “A” level prospects, look at the makeup of your “A” level customers. Then, using the criteria, replicate the recipe. Block out a minimum of 1 hour twice a week with your phone off, email closed, Blackberry off, cell phone off and hammer away at the prospect list. You may even need to hang a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your office door!

2. Catch up with your current clients, and upsell by offering incremental programs and add-on services. Capture “Sweep-up Dollars” from the “use it or lose it by year end” client budget. One Sales Director in the media industry called one of his clients and said, “We have a really interesting program, and if you have any budget available for this year, I’d like to discuss the benefits of the program with you.” That simple call resulted in a $100K sale. That’s why I call it “sweep up dollars”. The money is lying around and you sweep it up!

3. While you’re talking with your current clients, ask for referrals to other departments, divisions, parent companies, sister companies, and subsidiaries who have a bucket of money to spend on what you have to sell. Surprisingly, this low lying fruit is often overlooked. Leveraging your relationships to capture all sales within any one company will quickly increase your earnings as well as solidify your position with your customers. When you are on the phone with your client, ask him/her to transfer your call to one of the referrals. Whose name is on the caller ID? Not yours! Your call is more likely to be picked up if it shows up as an internal call.

This post was written by guest author by Caryn Kopp