As I’ve written before, the most frequent request I receive is to help my clients find and win new business – new accounts, new flags, new logos, etc. They want to win business from accounts that have never worked with them before. The reasons are obvious; so obvious that it begs the question why most companies struggle at it.
I’ve observed most businesses that develop an initiative to win new business don’t set the foundation. They answer important questions like “how?”, “when?”, and “what?”, but they don’t ask the one question whose answer is critical to the others. What is the question?
Who? Who should your sales team be pursuing for new business? I don’t mean a figurative description of your ideal prospect, but actual names of companies to pursue. The great ones list their targeted prospects for everyone to see. When your sales people have a list, not only do they qualify their prospects, but they also pursue the right quantity of targets. There aren’t many more unproductive activities than a sales person blindly calling on 500 companies when they should be focusing on 25. Have your sales people answer “who?”, and they’ll figure out if they have too many or too few.
Do you want to find and win new accounts? If you’re serious about it, then ask yourself this question: “Who do we want to pursue and win?”
