“There are times when the best appointment you keep is with yourself.”

The strongest relationship management tool?

Time with yourself  making sure your systems and focus are aligned to make your goals – inevitable.

Many, especially those responsible for driving sales or those who are entrepreneurs, find it challenging, if not frustrating, during this week. It’s an impatience that happens when you’re forced to wait for the next step or that decision which makers just haven’t convened to sign off on to move forward on a project.

This time is the “go slow to go fast time.” I often call it the strong foundation time so that you can soar during the beginning of the new quarter. It’s also the time that separates the “doers and the dreamers”.   Or, better phrased and more realistic, it’s the element that separates the employees from the entrepreneurs. It’s that terrific self discipline to slow down and use this time to build a strong foundation of a successful empire or sales force that will make 2012 a huge success or a perpetual struggle.

Establishing “no fly zones” are areas in your life that are non-negotiable – they are boundaries and promises to ourselves and our valued others in which we say “no” so that we honor that which is most important to us.

What are your no fly zones?

They are those times that are 100% committed to those items that move you closer to your goals. From acquiring skills to establishing systems, your “no fly zones” are the times that you are compounding your success and exponentially developing your relationships.   It’s a struggle I see many good employees struggle with as they work to bridge the gap to an entrepreneur.  It’s a confusion of activity with accomplishment.   Many times those two standards “collide” and our schedules and our feeling of well-being are in a literal train wreck!

For this week’s no fly zone, let’s make sure your system is ready to run well in 2012.

The importance of having a great system established and following up is amply illustrated by research from the National Sales Executive Association, a trade organization for professional sales executives.  Their remarkable statistics demonstrate that most sales are made from the 5th through the 12th contact!

Did you know that 67% of contacts listed in people’s database are no longer at the company listed in that database?  Even worse, 3% of the people on your list are dead. Literally, they’ve died since you last made contact with them.

Here are your action items to make the most of this week’s “no fly zone”:

• Clean up your database. Make it  rich in client content that it will catapult your relationships (and sales) for 2012?

a. When was the last time you made contact with that client?
b. Do you have all of their contact information?
c. Do you have a system to house your clients’ and contacts’ information?
d. How are you cataloging information about your clients, such as: names of children, milestone dates, interest areas, common frames of reference?  (There’s a comprehensive list of 20 things you need to know about every client in Tim Templeton’s Book, Referral of a Lifetime, a part of the Ken Blanchard Series.)

Here is the data they have compiled regarding sales per contacts ratios:

• 2% of sales are made on the 1st contact
• 3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact
• 5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact
• 10% of sales are made on the 4th contact
• 80% of sales are made on the 5th-12th contact!!!

Do you know that 95% of your competition will drop a prospect after the third try? Can you see where putting out 25% more effort than your competition (by making the 4th contact) will improve your sales by 100%!

You have heard the expression “All I have ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten.” Well, I learned the most valuable skill I have ever needed to know about providing excellent customer service by teaching kindergarten. My background in child development has taught me many things, but the technique I apply the most is actively listening.

Engage your customer

Customers have different needs. We should never assume we know what they want before they tell us. Ask them questions, listen to their answers and then mirror their responses back to them. This is a way to check for understanding, to make sure we are properly identifying their needs.

People want to be heard

Customers feel valued when we take the time to listen to them. Acknowledge their needs. Even if we can’t provide exactly what they want, taking the time to validate their request helps build the relationship. Suggest other options they may not have thought of that you are able to provide. If the customer is angry, remain calm and try to identify the emotion they are expressing (anger, disappointment) in a non-judgmental way, and ask them to suggest a solution that would make them happy. Children and customers are usually pretty good at coming up with their own solutions. If it is reasonable, do it!

Be mindful

Sure, this sounds easy, but pay close attention to your thoughts. We may be so excited to sell our product that we are not taking the time to identify our customer’s needs. Be sure to stay and focused and in the moment. Instead of listening, are you actually chopping at the bit to continue your sales pitch? If so, what comes out of your mouth next could be an inappropriate response to the conversation; your customer will know you weren’t listening, possibly causing you to lose a potential customer. If you push your agenda, customers (and children) will see right through this.

If you want to make your customers fanatic in their devotion to you, you just can’t offer a “better mouse trap.”  You have to bring more to the table then a killer product or service.

Google and Facebook’s Biggest Mistakes

These two titans of online life both have some of the most innovative and powerful products this world has ever seen.  Yes, what they do and make is truly revolutionary and has changed our world forever.  But they drop the ball in one huge way.

Customer service!

Have you ever had an issue on Facebook (their ad platform, technical questions, etc)?  If you have, then you know the help offered by the company past their set F.A.Q.s and tutorials is zilch.  Their own help discussion boards don’t include answers from Facebook staff.

Even if you’re paying to run ads, unless you’re dropping north of $25,000 a month, you don’t get an actual rep to talk to and your questions are ignored.  Not very social for a social media company…

Google isn’t much better.  Unless you’re a big dog, you don’t get much help from the Adwords team.  Your ads can be pulled, website de-indexed and you can watch your business grind to a hault without so much as a reply to emails from the Google team.

You can spin it and call it them protecting their technological secrets, business models and plans or whatever you want, but it all boils down to the same thing; bad customer service.

Be Like Zappos

Zappos, the online shoe and clothing outfit, is known around the world for their fanatical devotion to customer service.  If you’re looking to emulate anyone, it should be them.

Customer Service as a Competitive Advantage

While this idea has been around for a long time, Zappos is the best example of how you can over come competition, pricing and inventory woes by simply offering a better customer service experience.

We come back to Facebook and Google because we have to; Zappos doesn’t have that luxury.  Everyone and their brother sells shoes, t-shirts and jeans online.  But Zappos customers come back in droves because of how the company treats them.

Exceptional Customer Service

Their customer service reps aren’t judged on the time they spend on the phone.  Thus, they don’t try to get through your call as quickly as possible.  Instead, they work with you, treat you like a person and create a memorable experience.

They also are allowed a budget to spend as they see fit to increase customer loyalty.  Take this example, found on The Consumerist:

My wife had ordered a pair of sandals from Zappos. When they arrived, she found that they didn’t fit. She tried to order the right size, but Zappos was sold out of her size. So here’s what the company offered: she could return the sandals (for free), Zappos would refund the purchase price and they’d send her a $25 coupon toward her next purchase. But wait — there’s more! Zappos also offered to try to locate a pair of the sandals in her size from another vendor. (Hah! Sure, they will!) Fifteen minutes later, the company called my wife and told her they’d found her sandals, in her size, at another online merchant — “and,” the Zappos clerk told her, “they’re even cheaper at this other site!”

There was even one instance when a customer called to return boots her recently deceased husband had ordered.  They took them back (past the standard return period), paid for the shipping AND sent flowers to the funeral!

Company Culture

All of this is achieved because from the CEO down, Zappos creates a company culture that is completely focused on making the customer’s experience the best possible.

They offer new hires $2000 to leave after a month; thus weeding out people who don’t truly want to be there.  They focus their hiring efforts on how well someone fits into the company culture versus standard criteria like education, experience etc.

The company’s employees all work to create a culture where the customer is paramount and the organization itself allows the means to do it.

Learn More

If you’re interested in learning more about Zappos and how you can mimic their awesome customer service, then:

• Read their blogs.  Make sure you check out the CEO and COO blog section.
• Read Zappos CEO, Tony Hseih’s, book Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.
• Take a tour of their Las Vegas headquarters to see them in action.
• Check out all of the great information, events and groups at www.zapposinsights.com

Being customer centric seems to have become the in thing to talk about amongst CEOs, PR professionals and just about everyone else.  But just because you have the right buzz words in your mission statement doesn’t mean you’re walking the walk.

When someone attaches the customer centric tag to a company, they are referring to:

An approach to doing business in which a company focuses on creating a positive consumer experience at the point of sale and post-sale. A customer-centric approach can add value to a company by differentiating themselves from competitors who do not offer the same experience.

But what company would tout that they aren’t customer centric?  No CEO would ever publicly say, “We know our customer service is crap, but after we have your money, we really don’t care all that much.”  Even when power and phone companies were legal monopolies, they did their best to feign interest in what customers had to say.

A new generation of companies like Whole Foods, Best Buy, Starbucks and Zappos have radically altered their industries and business in general with their attention to customer satisfaction above all else.  Because these companies have had astronomical success, their customer centric mantras have become part of corporate lexicon and lore.

Sticking Feathers in Your Butt Doesn’t Make You a Chicken

Being a customer centric company doesn’t just happen; it has to be designed.

Reading Tony Hsieh’s book, telling your market facing employees to focus on customer service and adding some lines to a mission statement no one reads isn’t going to get the job done.

This isn’t a “fake it until you make it” scenario, it’s a holistic business philosophy.

Here’s how some of the most successful customer centric companies do it:

People

When it comes to a complete focus on customer satisfaction, your entire organization has to participate or you can forget about truly earning the customer centric label.

Being customer centric starts with the CEO and goes down through to the receptionists, salesmen and other “foot soldiers.”  No matter how big your company is, if you don’t lead by example then you’re going to lose the customer satisfaction war.

The companies that are touted as being the best customer centric businesses, put intense emphasis on how a potential worker fits in with the business culture more than traditional measurements like experience, education and so on.  This creates an army of like minded individuals, all working for the same goal.

Policies

Most customer service reps are judged on the volume of calls they handle and the time in which they handle them.  Their promotions, pay and bonuses are usually tied to these metrics; thus they get people off the phone as quick as possible.

Zappos flipped the script on that thinking and rewards their customer service reps by a set of standards that include customer feedback, the amount of customer problems solved and how they use their discretionary budgets to find unique solutions to problems.

Make your company’s policies conducive to achieving your customer centric ideals and you will reap the rewards.  Get in your own way and you will self destruct.

Pay

In conjunction with both of the above, reward your people appropriately to inspire them to do the right thing for the customer, not the immediate bottom line.

Companies like Best Buy and Whole Foods have CEO salaries that are comparatively minuscule to other companies of similar sizes.  This enables them to pay more for the day to day workers that will make or break their customer service goals.

They also give incentives to more workers to promote the organization’s growth.  In most companies 75% of stock options are given out to the top 5 executives with the remaining 25% landing in the hands of the managers the next level down.  At Whole foods the top 16 executives have only received 7% of the total stock options ever distributed.

Two professional poker players are talking about a fellow player and friend of theirs.  One asks, “Player X is the 6th best 7-card stud player in the world.  So why is he always broke?”

The other responds, “He only plays with the other top 5 players.”

Success in any venture boils down to who you surround yourself with.  Player X could have dominated almost any 7-card stud game in the world, but instead he chose to play in Las Vegas with the 5 people who could regularly beat him.

Likewise, if you want to see professional success, you have to put yourself in front of the right kind of customers.  If you just charge out there and start throwing money at advertising and marketing with no plan, you’re not going to see a positive ROI or a smile on your accountant’s face.

Sniper Rifle, Not Shotgun

Your marketing is a weapon; use it correctly or it’s worthless.  You are a soldier in the marketing war and your mission is to “take out” that perfect customer.

You’re not going to get the job done by firing a shotgun randomly and hoping you hit something.  You need to know your target inside and out, wait for them where they are most likely to be and fire your high powered marketing sniper rifle at the perfect time.

Knowing “The Right Customer”

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling nuclear powered submarines or hot dogs, you need to know who is most likely to buy your product.  At the very least, you need to know your average customer’s:

• Gender
• Age
• Average purchase (items, revenue, profit, etc)
• Interests
• Income level

Look over your current client list and sales data to get this information.  People that have bought from you before and people like them are more likely to buy from you again.  Learn who this average customer is and put yourself in their shoes.

Be Waiting for Them

Do you know why most hunters stay in one place for hours at a time?  They know they will have better luck achieving their goal if they just  stay long enough at a place their prey frequents.

That needs to be you!

If you sell denture cream, why would you put an ad on Facebook?  Yes, the social media juggernaut has 500 million+ active members, but how many of them want to buy your product?

It’s All About Timing

While Facebook has revolutionized advertising and marketing in many ways, it is deficient in one main area.  When you log in, you’re there to connect with friends, look at pictures and be social.  You’re not necessarily in a buying state of mind.  While this problem can be addressed easily and effectively through the use of Fan Pages, that is beyond the scope of this post.

On the other hand, when I open Google and search for “best wetsuit reviews”, “wetsuit sale” or “free shipping wetsuit”, I am making my intentions very clear.  I am in buying mode and am ready to pry open my wallet.

Trade shows, large sales events and even garage sales are all great  examples of hitting a customer when they are already mentally prepared to buy.  Whether it’s online or not, find out when your potential clients are more apt to buy things  from you and be waiting for them.

Less Work, More Results

By implementing a marketing system like this, you will put yourself in the best possible position to sell to people who are most likely to buy your product.   Follow Pareto’s 80/20 Rule and focus on the small percentage of your customers that bring in the most revenue and ditch that 80% that burns through your time, resources and patience.

Happy hunting…

Sun Tzu’s guide to military strategy, leadership and governance, The Art of War, might have been written in the 5^th century B.C., but its teachings hold true to this day in a wide range of categories.

Business owners, sales people and managers will all find priceless information in this work.  Understanding and implementing this timeless knowledge will help you achieve your business goals, no matter what industry you work in.

Ignoring them will only lead to your downfall!

If you don’t have the time or desire to read through this ancient work, here are a couple of key lessons you should be aware of:

Dealing With Competition

In regards to plotting a strategy, Sun Tzu says about your opponent:

“Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.”

If you’re competition is entrenched in a market, why attack them head on?  Instead of trying to fight an insurmountable force, find where your competition is weak.

Does their key product lack some features?  Is their product line focused more on one segment than another?  Does their customer service need improvement?

Research the dominate players in your market and tailor your product and pitch to exploit their deficits.  Become the “go-to” person in an area that no one else is focusing on.

Motivation

In one of Sun Tzu’s most famous military examples he teaches us to “burn the boats” and give yourself no retreat.

“Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight.  If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve.”

While it’s impossible to simulate such dire straits as facing death in the modern workplace, you can let yourself, your employees and coworkers know that repeated failure is not an option.  If the sales team fails, the company will eventually fail and everybody will be looking for a job.

Make sure that fate doesn’t befall you by working as though you have no other options.  With this motivation pushing you along, you will find creative solutions to problems that you may have previously abandoned.

Analysis

Sun Tzu says:

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.  If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer defeat.  If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

While in depth analysis of your actions, your company’s results, your competition and the market isn’t always most exciting thing, it is vital to your success.  You have to know where you stand, where your competition stands and what you can do to improve things.

Take a long look at your daily activities.  Are you making yourself busy or are you being productive?  Have you applied the 80/20 Rule to your clients, schedule and overall outlook?

Understand your own weaknesses and strengths, know where your competition is weak and strike accordingly.

Whether you like it or not, as a salesperson, you’re judged almost exclusively by your numbers. That means if you want to keep getting that paycheck every month and enjoy the free donuts on Fridays, you better keep those numbers as high as possible.

Not everyone sets out to have a career in sales. Entrepreneurs and many employees in smaller companies find themselves wearing many hats; and one of these often includes some form of sales. With massive unemployment rippling through the economy, many people have had to take on sales responsibilities in a new or redefined position.

No matter whether you chose this path or fate tied you to a horse and dragged you down it, you’re going to have to put up some numbers and make some cash to keep your bosses, mortgage company and bookie all happy. If you’re looking for a leg up, want to work more efficiently or simply stop drowning in a bathtub of your own professional self-loathing, then we’re here to help.

Here are five simple tips on how you can increase your sales today!

Benefits Not Features

Of course, you have to let your customers know why they should buy your product over the competitor’s, but that doesn’t mean rattling off a bunch of technical features of the product. With very few exceptions (information technology people I’m looking at you), customers want to be told what benefit they will get from your product. Quite simply tell them what’s in it for them if they buy from you.

Humans are selfish creatures by nature and appealing to how your product will make things run smoother, faster, better and improve their lives is the way to sales success. Relay what the end positive effect on their lives will be and you’ll see those sales numbers climb.

Know Your Stuff

Even if you’re not a full time sales person, know your products backwards and forwards. Knowing the benefits and features of the product or service you are selling might seem like a no-brainer, but a lot of sales people don’t bother to dig past the standard company literature and really know the product and market. If you come off looking like you don’t know what you’re talking about to a customer, you can kiss that sale goodbye.

Be Nice

Once again, this seems like a no-brainer, but many salespeople see the customer as an enemy that they must crush and dominate. Others just have poor attitudes and think it’s OK to speak to people however they want. Instead, put yourself in the shoes of your customer and treat them as though they would want to be treated.

Let them know what product is best for them and if you truly don’t have what they need, tell them that and recommend the product they need. The hit you will take on missing one sale will come back ten fold when you build a reputation amongst potential clients for being honest and helpful.

Network

The more people you meet, the more you will sell. People like to do business with people they know, trust and like (see the above point if you forgot that one.) Go to professional luncheons, trade shows, conferences and other place your customers might be. Get on the phone and call up some new prospects. Call your existing customers and ask them if they know anyone who might need your product or service.

Stay Organized

All of the product knowledge and networking in the world isn’t going to help if you can’t find your prospects numbers, lose a sales order or miss an important conference call. Information comes at you like water from a fire hose these days, so make sure you have a system in place to process everything.

David Allen’s Getting Things Done is an excellent resource for this, as is CRM software. A solid CRM platform is an essential weapon in your battle for more sales and it will help you keep everything from prospecting to following up for repeat business in order.

The dependability of a steady paycheck from your job is great, but no matter how much you’re getting paid, you’re still trading in your own hours to make money for someone else. If you want to truly be free and reap the all of the benefits of your work, you should consider starting your own business and be the boss.

Can You Wear the Crown?

They say, “Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” and they weren’t kidding around! When you’re “the man” the buck stops with you; there is no one else to blame if things go south. If you’re up to tackling this challenge, you need to put some serious time into planning out what you’re going to do, how you’re going to do it and how to make a business grow.

Despite the challenges it presents, being your own boss is extremely rewarding personally and financially. If you’re ready to dip your toes in the pool of entrepreneurship, then check out this quick guide to make sure you have all your bases covered.

Find Your Niche

The very first question you need to ask yourself is, “What service/goods am I going to offer?” What you decide on should not only be lucrative and have a market but should also interest you. When you work in a field that you truly enjoy, it feels a lot less like work. Make a list of things you are good at and that you really enjoying doing. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Take your list and make sure there is a viable market that you can enter. You can do this by Googling the names of the market or terms that are commonly used in it. If paid ads show up in the search engine results, then you know people are making money doing this. You can also check Amazon and your local bookstore for magazines that are devoted to your field of interest. Look at the ads in the magazine and see what people in your market are buying and what they are interested in.

What’s Your Business Model?

The next thing to consider is your business model; how are you going to make money doing what you enjoy? There are a thousand of ways to make a buck, here are just some:

• Create a website or publication that makes money through advertising.
• Sell some sort of service.
• Sell a physical or electronic product.
• Consult and show others how to become as great as you are at whatever it is you’re great at.
• Be the middle man in an interaction and take a percentage or fee from one or both parties.
• Sell other people’s products and make a commission per sale, for example internet affiliate marketing.
• A mix of the above.

Make it Legit

Unless you want an unpleasant letter from the IRS one day, you need to make your business legitimate. The first thing you should do is create a separate entity like a LLC or Corporation. Research what situation works best for you given your individual situation, your business and where you live. There are tons of resources out there that can help you with this.

Next, make sure you get a Tax ID number from the IRS and pay your taxes when you start making some money. I know this seems like an obvious statement, but you would be amazed at how many people don’t. If you’re working from home, make sure you get a post office box where they will sign for your packages. You can list your home address but you generally want to separate your personal and business activities as much as possible.

Finally, have a business number where people can get a hold of you. Even if your business does not require one-on-one contact (i.e. Internet based), you still need a phone number to enhance your credibility and receive calls.

Cover Your Bases, And Then Round Them

If something is confusing, make sure you talk to a professional. Do-it-yourself services are all the rage these days but don’t risk your financial future or your business’s existence by just winging it. Accountants and lawyers are worth the money they charge and it never hurts to have a professional weigh in on your plans.

Now you are ready to rock! In the next part of this series, I’ll discuss using the Internet, social media and word of mouth advertising to get the customers streaming through your door, website or phone!

A good sales person uses every bit of information available to convert leads to happy clients. Therefore, one of the first steps in the sales process should be to listen and find areas where your service or product can help. When sales people want to be absolutely sure they can provide the best service for the prospect they rely on sales intelligence.

Sales intelligence refers to equipment and applications and that help analyze and present information that can be used by sales people when making decisions. This concept covers many aspects of decision-making, from how to approach a prospect, down to what a prospect’s revenue was the previous quarter. Most sales professional rely on sales intelligence daily, most without knowing it. A great example of this crucial part of the sales process was exemplified in NBC’s hit comedy, The Office.

Dunder Mifflin: Master of Sales

The Office is a mock-umentary style show depicting the everyday hustle and bustle of a branch for the fictional paper company, Dunder Mifflin. Throughout the life of the show, episodes depict the sales ineptitude of Michael Scott, regional manager of the branch. The audience has very little faith in the office’s sales ability, but in the episode entitled “Traveling Salesman” of Season 3, the team relies on Sales intelligence to lead a series of successful sales calls.

In the episode, each sales person in the branch pairs up for their onsite sales calls. As the teams travel to their respective prospects, the audience sees various forms of Sales intelligence at play.

Phyllis & Karen

The team of Phyllis and Karen practice a form of sales intelligence focused on their prospect’s personality and history. Phyllis is a sales veteran and has dealt with this client on previous occasions, while Karen is new to the relationship. Phyllis, aware of the client’s background and personality, takes Karen to a beauty shop for a rather gaudy makeover. Although Karen (and the audience) are confused, the ploy works. As the sales team leaves the office, a picture of the client’s wife reveals that she wears her hair and makeup in a similarly gaudy manner. By studying the client, Phyllis was able to assemble a sales pitch crafted specifically for the client; a crucial part of sales intelligence.

Jim & Dwight

Another sales team is made of two of the shows most beloved characters, Jim and Dwight. Relying on their sales intelligence, Jim and Dwight find a strategy of their own. The team is meeting with new prospects so it’s more difficult to craft a pitch tailored to each call. Rather, the pair discusses strategy and uses their personalities as their biggest asset. Sales intelligence includes using your own strengths to convey the most effective message. Jim’s straight-and-honest sales approach combined with Dwight’s aggressive, erratic tactics helps each client understand the value of Dunder Mifflin’s products. While different than the strategy of Phyllis and Karen, Jim and Dwight found sales success.

In both examples, the sales teams collected information before deciding on their approach for each call. It’s impossible to provide a script for each sales call a salesperson makes; each interaction with a prospect is different. That’s why it was important for each Dunder Mifflin team to collect information and make decisions and pro-actively present actionable, relevant information to each prospect.

The Importance of Sales Intelligence

The sales process is hard enough without a plan in place. Sales intelligence simplifies the sales process, identifying the best route to success. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) aids the sales intelligence data collection. By tracking the conversations held with clients throughout the pipeline, you are able to better address their needs and build a successful relationship.

High tech sales intelligence solutions are able to cross reference customer buying patterns and delivers opportunities to up-sell, cross-sell and switch-sell. Whatever sales process you are involved in, you should make sure sales intelligence is involved too.

You’re doing all the right things…you have a beautiful website, an SEO team and a well optimized Adwords campaign complemented by a social media presence…but you still aren’t getting the sales you want.  So what’s the next step?

Balance Innovation with Tradition

Technology is great; we’re huge fans of it here at KarmaCRM. That doesn’t mean that we can abandon proven business activities that fatten up our bottom lines in favor of the latest new marketing methods. You have to look at all of the tools available to you and balance their implementation. Like making a cake, you combine different ingredients into one marvelous thing of beauty. On the other hand, using online marketing is like trying to eat pure flour; yeah it might fill you up but it sure won’t taste good.

Conversations Go a Long Way

The problem with new Internet marketing methods is the lack of communication involved.  Driving sales through the internet rarely involves picking up a telephone.  Most people find this process easier, but as a business owner, you must ask if it is working.  You must remember that internet marketing is just one tool in your arsenal. Combine the passive arts of internet marketing with the strategic aggression of phone sales.

If you’re finding your efforts are at a standstill then here are a couple of things you can do to breathe new life into your sales program:

• Mine Your Current Accounts: Have you gone through all of your current accounts and made sure everyone is all set? Who’s on deck for a reorder? Are you currently running any specials that may entice a customer to up their order or reorder early? Do you have new products you can cross sell or up sell?
• Remind Your Past Accounts: Just because they haven’t done business with you in awhile doesn’t mean they don’t need you now. Maybe they just need a friendly call to remind them you exist and you sell the best widgets on the market. This is where a good CRM platform is invaluable. It can remind you who has lapsed and needs to be reminded how awesome you are.
• The Dreaded Cold Call: Pick up that phone and start making some new friends out in the wide world of business. Even if you’re not a sales professional who loves the smell of a good cold call in the morning starting new lines of communication is never bad. If they don’t want what you’re selling thank them for their time and ask them to keep your info. Every month or so drop them a friendly hello and let them know you’re still out there and see if their needs have changed.

Try out these simple steps in conjunction with your online advertising programs and you’ll be good to go.