As we’ve discussed dozens of times, finding and winning new business is very hard. Most of the hunters are the old-school sales professionals that learned the art of selling before 2006. Back then, it was all about the activity volume – throw enough mud against the wall, and some of it will stick. The people that have entered our craft of selling since the Internet has turn our world upside-down haven’t been trained, or expected, to hunt for new business. The result: it’s tough to find sales people hunting for new business in the right way.
This post shares the starting point of finding and winning new business. Actually, I’m going to share several incorrect, but commonly practiced, starting points. Then, I’ll reveal the first thing you need to do to find new business in today’s crazy world of selling.
Is it persistent prospecting? The act of prospecting is not dead – don’t believe the hype. However, it’s not the first thing to do to find new business.
How about learning our benefits? Nope. You need to know the unique benefits of your company, but there’s something else that needs to happen first.
It’s gotta be our ability to target the right customers, right? Now you’re thinking. However, qualifying the right prospects can’t happen until you do this one thing.
It’s all about social media, right? It’s likely that you found this post through Twitter or LinkedIn, but social selling isn’t the first thing I did to win your audience.
It’s understanding our solution. After all, we’re solution-providers, not order-takers. What comes before the need for solutions? Think about it – what comes before a solution. What came before the invention of the wheel? What does ibuprofen solve? What did you read before the mathematics solution? You got it? Let’s see…
