Electric Heating Systems

This post is the second in the series of making sales in Infrared heating and it is entitled "Finding business".

And the first thing to recognise is that sales is a pro-active task. It takes responsibility, action and focus to win new business and you should never believe you are reliant on anybody else.

The other point that I will make up front is that with every list of prospects you develop (and I suggest lots of ideas below), work through it TO THE VERY LAST NAME. I have found personally that there is an important truth in this. The source of a sale often comes from the person you would least expect - even people you may historically not have got on with who now find themselves in new situations themselves. Such people - you guessed it - always end up at the bottom of your list. They're not the "obvious" ones; not the "comfortable" ones. But I strongly urge you to try them. Just personal experience.

Sources of prospects:

Sources of prospects include:
- Past customers;
- Newspapers and trade magazines;
- Referrals;
- Present customers who you ask for more business;
- Your rollodex of business cards - or Email list of personal contacts;
- Alumni from schools, college, companies you've worked for, trade organisations;
- Past people who "only enquired" (you kept their details, right?);
- "Used-to-supply" lists (i.e. "Gone-away customers);
- "No" lists;
- Contacts who have moved (find out discretly from estate agents who is moving - it is a great opportunity to contact potential IR buyers. Hey, install an IR panel in the agency and get everyone talking about it!);
- Classified adverts and new vacancy enquiries;
- Trade organisations - institue of directors, chambers of commerce;
- Local sports competition activities.

Ways to approach people:

There are several different approach for contact: passive and active.
Passive approaches include:
- Advertising;
- Direct mail;
- Leaflet drops;
- Inserts in jornals & newspapers;
- Conferences, public speaking, article-writing.

Making an active approach:
- Write a letter in which you sell a follow-up telephone call (don't just cold-call - direct marketing agencies have ruined the public tolerance to cold-calls);

- Always make the call yourself - never use a secretary to make contact for you;

- Do not go into detail in a call, your aim is to MEET;

- Always use an unusual time to meet: never on the hour or half-hour (too easy to cancel for all the OTHER meetings planned for these slots);

- Be aware of a customer's "prime desire": it is never to BUY A HEATER: it is always going to be something like "SAVING MONEY"; "COST-EFFICIENCY"; "SPACE-SAVING"; "HEALTH ENHANCING" etc.

So remember: a letter to sell the phone call; a phone call to sell a meeting; a meeting to sell yourself.

Final Thumb Memo:
- It is essential to get new customers, regularly;
- The richest source of interest will always be past customers;
- Use newspapers and journals;
- Referrals are the most cost-effective business, most reliable & haggle the least;
- FOLLOW your customers;
- Develop networks;
- ASK for the business. Don't obscure your eventual aim with a prospect. Ask them.