5 Ways Companies Can Find Hidden Sales

I’m sitting in my backyard, enjoying the beautiful landscaping that was done 6 years ago, appreciating how nice and grown in it is, and thinking to myself that the company that sold it to me has not contacted me one time in 6 years.  They never contacted me to say, “Hey, have any neighbors come over and complimented the yard,?  Do you like the yard?  Do you have a front yard?"  That is sort of the Hook.  The net result is that they squandered opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell and find new business from me or my referrals.

Don't make that same mistake.  We have coached clients for years on how to find new business and a chunk of it is within their current client base.  We offer these 5 tips to get new business and it is a lot easier than picking up the phone and "cold calling."

1. Call past clients.  

   Over the last 12 months, we have helped many companies discover hidden opportunities by just calling back past clients.   These are dormant accounts that they have not done business with over the past several years.   We suggest picking up the phone, calling these people and just say thanks for the business that they did give us.  Fundamentally it is a tough call that stimulates conversation and new opportunities.  Do you know what questions to ask and how to ask them to uncover this hidden business?  (Watch this Video Tip:  "Finding New Business With Past Customers").

2. Cross-Sell

   Top performing companies are finding ways to cross-sell products to their client base.  They have a process (we can teach you this) to identify open opportunities that exist and drive the behaviors of your salespeople to uncover cross-sell opportunities.  Make no mistake about it,  not every customer needs every item in your product line but there are hidden gems buried just beneath the surface by selling more to existing clients. 

3. New Market Segments

   Salespeople often find themselves in comfort zones.  Driving them to call on new market segments, new industries, or selling new products is often extremely difficult but highly lucrative.  Encourage your people through weekly accountability to call on new accounts that will drive new product sales.

4. Leverage Strategic Partnerships

   Referrals are an awesome place to generate more business and many people don’t get enough of them.  Often times when we coach salespeople they have forgotten to ask for the referral; other times there are conceptual issues that prevent the salesperson from asking.  For example, they don’t feel like they have earned the right to ask for a referral.  This is a fixable problem and one that requires salespeople to ask for referrals and introductions 2-4x/day.   (Video Tip:  "Finding New Business on LinkedIn").

5. Outsourced Lead Generation

   Sometimes it makes sense to "Do It Yourself" or leverage your inside sales team and sometimes it makes sense to hire an outside firm.  We have a Sandler Certified lead generation team that can go find new business, set up appointments for your sales team, make calls touch calls into past clients, or if you like, we can train your people to make these calls.