How Do I Increase Closing Ratios When I Don’t Have a Customer List?
Fostering a relationship with your previous customers is the best way to increase closing ratios, but if you are new to sales and you don’t have an existing customer base, never fear! There are other things you can do.
According to The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes, someone completely new in sales should use pigheaded discipline to prospect every day all day until you start building a customer list. Once you have a customer list, at least 2.5 hours a day should be spent on prospecting new clients.
So how do you do that? Start by believing that anyone in sales has their “own business within a business”, and it’s up to you to get that business. Most of us are not going to find customers just sitting behind the computer sending out emails. The best business happens when we meet face to face, or when someone we know puts us in contact with someone we need to know.
You are your own walking, talking billboard. Where do your prospective customers hang out? Where do you need to go meet them? Who knows the people you need to know? Are you visiting with people wherever you go? Are you constantly on the lookout for new customers, whether you be at the grocery store or gas station, camping or out four-wheeling, at church or at school events? Coffee shops? What about some networking events or educational events where like-minded people hang out? Depending on your type of customer, you need to go to them.
Blaine Oelkers, a Chief Results Officer and President of Selfluence and Mastermind Group Leader is an expert on Napoleon Hill and his teachings. He coined the phrase: WYTAYBA, What You Think About You Bring About. Have you ever noticed that once you put something in your mind, you automatically start noticing it more and more. For example, once you buy a certain car, you notice that nearly everyone else has that same car, same color as you? It’s because you’re paying attention now and you are aware of something has meaning to you.
The same thing works in sales. Once you put it in your mind that you are searching for certain types of people or opportunities, and start talking about them, the people just seem to fall right into your lap. But it starts with you knowing who you’re looking for first.
Once you’ve started attending different events, keep track of where you’re spending your time and the contacts you get from there. You’ll start to see that certain events give you better contacts or prospects than others, so you will be able to quit some events and focus on the ones that work for you.
If the company you work for is distributing leads to you, track them if they don’t have a tracking system. (Better yet, send them to me at Profit Finder Pro Software, and I’ll take care of the tracking system!) You will see that leads from certain vendors will work better for you than others. For example, you may relate to the demographics of certain radio stations better than others do; or you may relate to the wealthy people, whereas other people may be intimidated by them. You may related better to a younger crowd, whereas the next guy works best with the elderly. All of these things affect your sales, and once you start tracking it, you’ll find your niche and then you’ll be able to focus on where your strengths lie.
As a result of focused and pigheaded determination, you will be able to increase closing ratios.
Good luck. Hope this was helpful!
P.S. Here’s another article on the BEST way to increase closing ratios!