When we posed this question to a group of company managers and presidents, it seemed to stump many of them. One said, “They just sort of wash up on the beach.” Others gave us some interesting answers such as “Our salespeople dig them out”, “Referrals from other customers”, “Inquiries from advertising, directories, trade shows, the web, and our dealers”, and even “Over the transom”.
Frank Leahy, the former Notre Dame football coach, had a simple formula for success...if he ran a play through left tackle and gained five yards, he did it again and again, for as long as it kept gaining yards. In other words, keep doing the things that work.
This is good advice for selling too, but very difficult to follow unless you can identify the actions that bring about your successes.
Most companies acquire new customers in a variety of ways, and with a little investigative work they can identify some of the actions that are most successful.
Identifying and understanding these actions is the key to really knowing how the basic selling system works... a prerequisite if you want to fine tune it for better efficiency and effectiveness.
The best way to find out where customers come from is to make it part of a process. Every new customer routinely gets a credit check. Why not also, as a matter of routine, check to determine the actions that led to the sale. This can be done in some cases by establishing tracking systems for various response methods. You can even send new customers a questionnaire (you’ll be amazed how many people will answer two or three questions if you ask them properly), or use telemarketing to call new customers, thank them for their order, and ask how they first heard about the company and the product.
By identifying the actions that developed existing customers and led to sales, you can repeat them over and over again.
At Norris & Company, we believe if you “do the right things, the right things will happen”.
