The Importance of Honing Your Business Development Skills
/in Business development/by TTS adminThe Importance of Honing Your Business Development Skills
Business development is an ongoing skill business owners need to continually refine in order to keep their sales pipeline full. Unfortunately, when times are good and customers plentiful, it is easier to push this important task to the side.
While business development seems like a straightforward task that is not always the case. To be effective, it must be done correctly, otherwise it can backfire and do more harm than good.
In almost all cases, the most important business development tool has nothing to do with interacting with customers. Before you can hope to attract more customers you need to find out what your competition is up to so that you can set yourself apart.
When you are one of several companies selling a similar product or service, emphasizing what you do differently is critical to your success. And you can’t know what those differences are unless you carefully study your competitors.
Here are some other important things to keep in mind when planning your business development strategy:
Focus on adding value. While it is gratifying to make a quick sale, that is not the job of business development. Instead, provide your customers and prospects with things that money can’t buy. These include outstanding customer service, information that solves a problem or makes their job easier and taking a real interest in their success. Doing these things helps to build trust and when people trust you, they are much more likely to do business with you in the long-term. Remember, however, adding value takes patience.
Tailor your testimonials. When using testimonials, make sure those testimonials are tailored for your specific target audience. Small companies do not want to hear how your product worked for a multi-national company and vice versa. Throwing testimonials out haphazardly is rarely a good idea. Further, a poorly written or token review can do more harm than good. Make sure the testimonials you use are heartfelt and compelling, remembering that it is better to have a few outstanding testimonials than a glut of averages ones.
Monitor online reviews. Always keep track of what people are saying about you online. Online reviews have a huge impact on whether someone decides to do business with you. If you receive a negative review, respond carefully and in a helpful manner. It may not erase the review but those who read your response will view you as really caring about the customer experience.
Maintain healthy relationships. Don’t ignore your current customers in an effort to gain more. Repeat business is much easier and cheaper to garner than new business so don’t let relationships with your current clients to fall by the wayside.
Five Ways to Spice Up Your Lead Generation Efforts
/in Lead Generation/by TTS adminFive Ways to Spice Up Your Lead Generation Efforts
There are several tried-and-true methods to generate leads for your business. Periodically, however, businesses may need to augment those efforts with some fresh tactics.
Even if you aren’t desperate for leads at this moment, it is always good to mix things up a bit. By doing so you may attract some leads that you otherwise may have missed. Since coming up with new ideas to attract leads can be difficult, we’ve come up with some you may not have tried or have not used in a while.
- Networking events. Since everything seems to be done online these days, meeting with people face-to-face may feel like a novelty. You will be amazed at how much traction you gain by handing out business cards, shaking some hands and asking for referrals at networking events.
- Videos. While in a perfect world, you would post a video on YouTube and sit back and watch it go viral, this probably isn’t going to happen. However, by posting an entertaining video that tells a little bit about your brand—without selling—you may find yourself getting some unexpected attention from potential customers.
- News outlets. Ever heard of a slow news day? Well, a slow news day can do wonders for a brand. While you should never be pushy, consider calling some local journalists and telling them a little bit about your business. Has it been in your family for generations? Does it support an important local charity? You get the idea. If you have a good story and you explain it well, you may find yourself getting a call one day from a news reporter that needs to fill some airtime.
- eBooks. This type of lead generation works particularly well for B2B companies. The key to any eBook is that it is worth reading. If you are going to sell, you can be sure it won’t get read. However, if you provide readers with insights and expertise they can really use, it definitely will get read. And you’ll be seen as a thought leader in the industry.
- Webinars. Webinars are easy to broadcast and allow you to get your message out to a large number of potential prospects. If you hold webinars regularly, you are likely to gain a healthy following, as well. At the end of your webinars always ask attendees to visit your website or follow you on social media.
The traditional forms of lead generation are popular because they work. While no one is proposing you give up on these traditional forms, it never hurts to mix things up a bit.
Six Ways to Use Inbound Calls to Drive Sales Conversions
/in Business development, Business to Business Telemarketing Services/by TTS adminSix Ways to Use Inbound Calls to Drive Sales Conversions
If you own a business, inbound calls are an invaluable resource. Not only do inbound calls have extremely high conversation rates, they provide critical customer information that you are unlikely to get anywhere else.
Many inbound calls originate when people visit your website and then call for more information or make a purchase. But how can you glean information from these calls that will help you drive even more sales? Here are six important ways:
- Classify the lead. Decide if the caller a qualified or unqualified lead. By doing so you will know how to nurture that lead.
- Refine your message. What promotions or projects led to the most sales? Use those promotions in the future to drive even more sales.
- Check the competition. Do callers mention a particular competitor or a competitor’s product? If so, you need to figure out how to set yourself apart from the competition.
- Talk the talk. Listen for how customers or prospects talk about a product or service they are looking for. Try to use that same type of language in future scripts.
- Compare scripts. Use scripts that emphasize different product points, discounts or other incentives. Determine which scripts led to more sales and use that script for future calls.
- Identify keywords. When people ask about a product or service they found on your website, what words on your website do they use? By tracking keywords you can discover which ones resonated the most with callers and incorporate these words into future marketing materials.
Sales from inbound calls are great but the information gleaned from these calls can be just as, if not more, important. Telemarketing doesn’t exist in a vacuum so by monitoring what happens on calls you can improve your online and offline marketing techniques, business development efforts and drive sales conversions, as well.
Making data-driven marketing decisions involves connecting the dots between all customer interactions. Rather than guessing why a customer called or decided to make a purchase, analyze the data from that call and find out for sure. Even better, you will be able to parlay calls into more leads and a higher number of sales conversions.