No matter the size of the company you work for, being entrepreneurial will always set you apart from your colleagues. Recognising opportunities to expand the offering of the company you work for, and recognising new opportunities to increase revenue is invaluable.
However, business development isn’t easy and isn’t always that enjoyable! Rejection from sales, struggling to get cut-though, creating opportunities and delivering against targets can be stressful.
In the various businesses I have worked for, I have tried a number of sales tools and techniques. I have had to do everything from cold calling to pitches on the phone and send volumes of
email marketing. I am going to share with you some of the most enjoyable new business techniques I have implemented over the past few years.
The most important thing to remember is people buy people!
Understand the measure of success
You need to have a clear goal when it comes to sales. Speak to your manager about what they see as a measure of success and build up to the end goal.
If revenue is the ultimate end goal and measure of success, what milestones can you reach along the way? For each new person you speak to, you will increase the list of prospective clients that will buy from you. By building up this list over time, you will build relationships and trust and it will be easier for people to buy from you.
Chose a form of communication you’re comfortable with
This will vary depending on the business you work for. If you work in a creative environment, maybe cold calling is not the best way to sell your services. However, sending an email featuring an idea you’d like to share with someone, to book a call, is a softer more creative approach.
Think about the ways you like to be reached by brands you purchase from and mirror that in your strategy. Alongside this, think about what you are pitching and when you are trying to reach someone. I avoid Monday’s for any new business as people are busy following the weekend. Towards the end of the week, people are more receptive to looking at something new.
Add value
When I started the job I am currently in, my manager told me to add value in every single piece of comms, with new and existing clients. Adding value to someone who you want to buy something from you or invest money with the business you work for, makes your job easier.
Don’t push a hard sale, invite people to events, share a news article you have seen that could be relevant for them or share some examples of work with them as inspiration. Tell them why you’re sending it, and give people a reason to engage with you.
Use events, social, connections and referrals
This goes back to my first point – people buy people! Ask clients or customers you already work with for referrals and introductions, and do the same in return. Connecting people in your industry will position you as a thought-leader and help build up connections.
LinkedIn is a great way to engage with people and share examples of work, and use your wider socials to find new business.
Making connections over time, meeting people at events and asking for referrals takes the pressure off of you. Think about having conversations with people about what you can offer – rather than it being a sales pitch.
Work with your team
Work with your team to come up with creative ideas you can share with prospective clients. Lean on others for help when you’re unsure what the next steps are.
If calls to new clients to make sales make you more nervous, ask a colleague to join you. Having two people on the call to share insight will only give the person you are trying to sell more reasons to buy from you!
Support others, understand that sales and new business won’t come as easy to everyone, and different techniques work for different personality types.
Take-aways
If your role is pure play new business or business development, all of these might be useful to make sales more enjoyable!
If you don’t work in a direct sales role you may want to choose a few of these to help you see opportunities for your team, your clients and the business your work for to expand basket size, revenue and clients.
Any more top tips for a new business that you’d like to share, you can pop these into our
Girls in Marketing Facebook Group.
Written by Sophie Thirlwell
