What’s different in your sales activity in 2020?

“It’s the little things that citizens do that make a difference. Planting is my little thing.” The late Professor Wangari Maathai

New year, new things.

What’s your new thing this year? You see, 2020 promises to be the precisely what you want it to be. So what do you want it to be? What new sales activity will you introduce this year to make 2020 manifest as you intend it to?

Here are three activities you can engage in to accelerate your sales this year.

Double your prospecting

One, double your prospecting. Getting potential clients for your product or service is a never ending process in selling and the seller’s lifeline. If you have been addressing one prospect per week, make that two. This may mean finding more ways for prospecting. Depending on your offering, this can be done through asking for referrals from existing clients or any contact made.. You could also inbox the prospect on LinkedIn,  try a direct mail campaign, attend your customers’ events, offer complimentary consulting sessions, join Business Network International, or (confidentially) swap clients names with a seller from a different industry. For instance, if you sell credit cards you could swap your client list with post-paid clients of a mobile network operator. 

Treble your conversion

Your new thing could also be doubling or trebling your conversion. Sometimes prospecting isn’t the sellers challenge but conversion is.  Movers for instance are unlikely to go knocking on doors asking, “Are you moving this month?” More likely those moving reach out to them. Because it is also unlikely they are reaching out for the fun of it, it is safe to assume they are hot leads (ripe to be converted to a sale). So instead of a standard response to send me a quote, engage this prospect in conversation: “What would it take for you to let us move your things in safety, trust and peace of mind?”

Get off your tail!

The third new thing could be to get off your tail. Quit just sitting there sending emails requesting for appointments.  Go out to the field. Show up at the prospects office unannounced. Will he get angry? Maybe, maybe not. Experience though has the odds stacked heavily in your favour that he’ll give you the time your emails to him never yielded.  As for the proposal you sent out eons ago and are still told it’s being looked at you don’t need to follow up, call up stating, “There’s something I need to show you.” 

This could be a brochure showing how the pump in the proposal has been enhanced or, or, the feel of the new cheque book wallet. It needn’t be anything earth shattering; just a justification to be given a face-to face meeting. Saying “show” increases the chances of a face-to-face meeting at which point you’ll have a pulse on the progress of the proposal.

Make 2020 count. To paraphrase the late Professor Wangari Maathai:  “It’s the little new things we do that make a difference.” Her thing was planting trees.  What is your new thing in 2020?


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