Peady’s Selling Engagement sponsored by IRD Prospector
 

Picture this. It’s been a tough first 5 months of the sales year – you’ve worked hard, had some wins and losses. It’s June and those sales figures are now consigned to history – so what’s your plan for the second half?

NOW is the time to plan ahead because you are entering your strongest period of sales revenue opportunity. You simply cannot afford to lose momentum.

A Plan?

Create a three month sales plan to jump start the second half – a sales plan to generate pipeline activity and ultimately more business. Deliver in these three months and you now have real momentum for the golden quarter at the back end of the year.

July – Please a Client
                  
Review your current client list.

• Contact every one of them and arrange a face to face meeting.
• At that meeting thank them for doing business with you.
• Set a clear goal to find out one new piece of information about their business.
• Prepare a leave behind for each client (market research, industry data, creative info)
• Uncover upsell or cross-sell opportunities.

August – Find a Friend   
            
It’s prospecting month! Set yourself a goal of finding and qualifying at least one new prospect every business day. That’s a minimum of 21 or more brand new prospects to work with.

• Review your CRM – identify those prospects you haven’t spoken to for a while.
• Revisit your networking.
• Look back at recent unsuccessful presentations.
• Seek referrals from current clients.

September – Recover Lapsed Clients

There’s “gold” in lapsed clients.  After all they have used your product or service previously – they know you and/or your company.

• Check the database uncover and then recover those lost clients.
• Do your research. Why were they lost? Is it fixable? Get your manager involved.
• Design a “welcome back” offer.

In order for your three month sales plan to become profitable, each month must contain specific activities – I’ve given you just three ideas. Why not brainstorm some others at this week’s sales meeting?

About the author 

Stephen Pead is a media industry veteran of 30 years with significant experience in direct sales, sales management and general management. He is based in Sydney and specialises in helping SME’s market their businesses more effectively and providing training for salespeople and sales managers.

He can be contacted at [email protected]