One of the most challenging issues I encounter with new clients with limited to no sales experience is setting proper expectations at the outset.
Here are the Top 3 Reasons Why You Should be Patient with the Process and Not Pull the Plug Early:
1. New Business Development takes time. Much of my early relationship-building with new clients is educating them on this fact. Identifying their target market, creating their new and unique messaging (typically leveraging Case Studies and White Papers), and then initiating the actual Prospecting Cycle itself takes time.
Count on at least 90 days ramp-up, and then a minimum of a 6-month commitment for prospecting to realize new, qualified opportunities, not sales, just opportunities that can now be transitioned to the Sales Cycle which may take another 3 – 12 months depending on the complexity of your solution.
I explain that if they pull the plug too early, say two or three months in, they will only lose the investment they have made thus far in a newly developed Sales Pipeline.
Completely.
And without a relevant and current Sales Pipeline, they will NOT gain new sales.
2. Don’t get yourself in a position of having no New Business to work on because you didn’t keep your Pipeline current and active in the first place.
I’ve summarized here some of my previous articles that speak to the danger of pulling the plug too early because of knee-jerk decisions and panic. Hopefully, they will help prevent you from flushing your new business development efforts down the drain…
Welcome to the New World of Sales: http://bit.ly/2sPWSNe
3 Critical Components of a Successful Sales Campaign: http://bit.ly/2wXdt4j
The Reality of Building a Sales Pipeline: http://bit.ly/2f6IL1A
3. Keep Your ‘Eyes on the Prize’. It takes on average at least 6 – 8 touches to get your prospect’s attention. Do the math, and plan on at least a 6-month commitment to building your Sales Pipeline.
Other than that, you are just wasting your money. Even worse if you are beguiled into thinking (and buying) technology that can somehow do this for you.. ??
Sales Automation is NOT a Stand Alone Solution: http://bit.ly/2sXbsTu
Think 6 months down the line.. what will you be working on if you do not invest in the New Business Development efforts now?
About the Author:
Martin Beauclair is an Entrepreneur, Business Leader, and Active Supporter of Start-up Communities. For the past 20+ years, he has launched and managed numerous technology product offerings, serving as Sr. Vice-President of Sales & Business Development at IgeaCare Group of Companies, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at GlobeStar Systems, and Director of Sales & Marketing at Edwards Systems Technology (Now GE Security).
Today Martin heads up Access2Sales as CEO, and recently founded FalconRidge Trading, a related Strategic Sales company.
Martin is a certified ADMA (Accredited Professional Administrator), a member of the AMA (American Marketing Association) and both UPSA & CPSA Professional Sales Associations. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School (AMP), a bilingual BAA (Bachelor in Business Administration) from the University of Ottawa, and also holds an MBA in International Business Management from Laval University.
He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Business Administration at the University of Phoenix, and is a self-proclaimed ‘life-long learner’.
But what ultimately drives him at the end of the day? Simply,
“To Grow Companies by Creating and Leading High-Performance Sales Teams.”