11/29/09

Building Your Client Base

November 29, 2009

I am often asked, "....which do you think is more important in growing my client base - filling the hopper with leads in the front end or transforming cold leads to warm ones?"

This question could be easily answered if every sales personality was the same. Some sales folks don't like to sell or cultivate prospects/clients. They would rather step into the sales arena and say, "hi my name is Bill, and how do you like me so far? Where's the order?"

Then there is the other end of the spectrum and the development of closing of the sale becomes laborious, boring and balances on the hopeful.

Many times we get a stack of business cards or a referral from a friend or colleague telling us we should meet this person or receive an inquiry from a person who is not quite ready to buy. But the bottom line in any and all sales arenas includes a formal mechanism, a solid definition and filled with professional determination. Consequently, it is not identifying people to put into your hopper that is the limiting factor, but moving them from stage to stage and eventually turning them into buying clients.

I believe it is important that we have a plethora of potential clients. And I too have used the term "hopper" on many occasions, but it is not just having the hopper filled that turns them into buying clients.

If we think in the terms of farming, where the farmer prepares the ground, plants the seeds, cultivates and irrigates the land, supports and watches over his/her field, we are more accurately representing what is needed to develop prospects into buying clients. Bottom line, you need both but without always acting in a defined, determined professional manner, the yield of your harvest may become distressed at best.

The first week of December is now upon us and as always I wish you the absolute best. If I can be of any assistance, please call or write and I will respond immediately!

Regards,
George F. Mancuso, CPC
Gman Business Resources, Inc.
Grinnell, Iowa