Sales 101

The #1 rule of sales is, You don’t ask, you don’t get. This means:

1. Ask others about themselves to show you care and to find out if they are qualified to be your clients.
2. If they are qualified, ask for a 1-1 meeting or invite them for other further communication, perhaps invite them to your event, or ask them if they would like you to send them more information.
3. At the meeting, start with general conversation and ask more questions to learn more about them.

**Remember to acknowledge what they say through active listening and say something nice about it. They will be more receptive to listening to what you have to say.

5. Present what you do in more detail, then depending on their needs/wants/goals, how one or more of your products/services can fulfill them, and why.
6. As them if they would like to move forward with your products/services or if they would like more information depending where they are at that moment. It’s possible the prospect is not ready that day to become your client, but, they may be in the future.
7. Send a follow-up email after your meeting based on your conversation.

*Remember, it takes an average of 7 times for a person to be touched by your business/exposed to something about your business, before buying. So, some may purchase the first time they see you, but, others may need to be touched by your business 20 times or more before deciding to buy. 

Think about this.. let’s say you put one of your favorite junk foods on your kitchen counter.. chocolate and other desserts would definitely be mine. You plan to save it until that evening or another day to eat it and share it with others. But, every time you walk by it, you inadvertently look at it. Every time you do you say you are not going to eat it, but, your stomach (via your brain) starts telling you how delicious it tastes and how much it will make you happy to have some, and it’s not a big deal to have just a little bit.. chances are you will give in at some point and eat it.

Have you ever been watching TV or YouTube that has commercials in the evening and a commercial for chocolate or other food comes on? You may have not been thinking about chocolate or the other favourite food, but, all of a sudden you become hungry for it.

It can be the same with your business.. people meet you regularly at networking events, you learn about them and briefly tell them how you help others, and them ask for a meeting if they are qualified. (Touch point 1).

Either book a meeting during the event or send them an email or LinkedIn message the next day to tell them you enjoyed meeting them and learning about their business, and ask them if they would like to book a meeting. (Touch point 2).

Have the meeting (Touch point 3).

Send a follow-up message (Touch point 4).

If they AGREED to be on your email marketing list, send them an email (Touch points 5+) once or twice a month max. (no more than that or they will likely unsubscribe).

Post on social media regularly to showcase your knowledge, skills, services and/or products, invite them to your events and other topics (Touch points 6+).

See them and talk with them again at other events (Touch points 7+).

Like, comment on and share their social media posts (Touch points 8+). Once a week max., you don’t want it to be overwhelming.

Go out to more networking events where you might see them again, which gives you the opportunity to build a relationship (Touch points 9+)

Pay attention to how much you talk during your conversations with them though.. no one enters a conversation to listen to a monologue (i.e. you talking for several minutes at a time) and we all have relatively short attention spans, and we are busy and want to talk to others.

If you talk too much or pressure them to have more communication with you/hire you/buy from you, you will likely push them away and they will want to avoid having any further interaction with you – that’s the opposite of your goal.

Just give them a bit of information and learn a bit about them, then ask for the meeting so you can learn more about them and you can tell them more.

Keep in mind that some people will never buy from/hire you for whatever reason and that’s ok, focus on giving a good impression of yourself and leaving them with a good feeling about you, then look for others who will.

Best of luck with your new client acquisition and repeat business!

Remember to come out to our business networking events as often as possible, and better yet become a member to come out to our events for free and start building touch points so your business can flourish.