how to get more business

Any time the economy slows down every business owner tries to figure out how to get more business. Some will get it right and some will simply go all over the place with no real plan.

A lot of business owners may find that they have more free time so they will exhibit at more industry trade shows and hope to drum up new business that way. It is always good to be seen at industry trade show and we offer a full line of trade show displays.

Some sales managers will tell their sales teams that it is time to get back to basics and what they mean is it is time to start cold calling. Oh sure I know some businesses think cold calling is awesome and it is how their business survives but for most of us who have tried cold calling we hate it and rightfully so. Here is the problem with cold calling; you call someone who doesn't know you and you try to sell them things that you don't know if they need. So it is all about you pushing your products or services on enough random people that eventually someone might buy. The odds are stacked against your success so you can only cold call if you love the concept that the law of averages will eventually take over and you'll stumble upon someone who just happens to need what you are selling and so far they haven't taken any action to find a company like yours to offer the very products or services that they need. In fact the odds are so against your success that 95% of the people you call will either say "no" or hang up on you. You have some hope of success with only the remaining 5% and THAT is the 5% that your sales manager refers to when discussing the law of averages.

Wouldn't it be awesome if there was a way to turn things around so that 95% of the people you speak with are serious prospects? First let's look at why things aren't going so well for you with the initial 95%. Here is the problem and we will use my business as an example. Let's say that my ad agency decides to cold call. Suppose your phone rings right now and it's me calling asking if you've been thinking about starting some TV advertising for your business. Well that IS one of the things my company offers so I might ask that question. Chances are very good that IF you wanted a TV commercial you'd have one by now and wouldn't be sitting around hoping that someone from my company would call you.

OK suppose that instead of that i called to tell you that our company has a team of professional website designers that have been designing websites since 1995 now would you say "Yes we'd love to have your company make a website for us."? I doubt that would be your response. The reason is simple, you already have a website so you don't need one. Or if you have a website and don't like it you probably found someone to fix it so that you will like your website. What if I tell you that we have the best website designers in the entire country will that make you change your mind and hire us? Not a chance! If you don't need what I'm selling then you aren't going to buy what I'm selling. I called YOU hoping that you were just sitting around not taking care of the TV commercial or website that you wanted. The chances of you sitting and waiting for a Fort Lauderdale website designer to call are slim.

So by now I hope you get the idea here that even if I cold called you and told you I'd make a TV commercial for the same price as anyone else has offered you or 10% less than the others and we will use HD cameras for crystal clear quality you still aren't going to say "yes" if you aren't interested in TV advertising for your business. In other words nothing else I can say will make any difference, not the fact that I'm offering a better price, better production quality nothing else will matter because you weren't interested in what I'm trying to sell. Now it is time to consider what YOU would have done if you did want a TV commercial or if you were looking for a Miami website designer or any other advertising service.

What would you have done?

Wouldn't you have gone to the Internet and done a search for what ever business services you need? Isn't that what you do every time you need some new product or service for business or personal use? If you don't ALWAYS buy things on the Internet you at least do some research there and then decide who you are going to call or visit based upon what you've found on the Internet. OK now let's say that what you really want is movie theater advertising. You have decided that with your business being close to the theater anyone going to that theater should be coming to your business so you want to advertise there. Let's consider your options:

1. Sit and wait for someone from Ad Excellence (my ad agency) to call you.
2. Go on the Internet and search for "movie theater advertising" and you'll find Ad Excellence.

Now here is where it gets good... You've already decided that you want movie theater advertising, you've already gone to the Internet and searched for "movie theater advertising". You will hopefully have found Ad Excellence and you not only see examples of our work that will impress you but you even see a video testimonial from a client of ours. So let's look at how vastly different this is from ME cold calling you. If I call and try to sell you a new website design for your business but you have no interest nothing I can say will change your mind so I've got a 95% chance of failure with cold calls. However, if you decided for example that you want movie theater advertising for your business and searched for that and found my website, saw my examples and client testimonial then i just have one question for you... What are you going to do next? You are either going to fill out the free price quote form on my website OR you are going to call me. NOW my odds are 95% leaning towards success.

Here is why my odds of success are now at 95%.

1. You want a service that my company sells
2. You want this service enough that you searched for it on the Internet
3. You saw examples of mine that impressed you enough that you decided to call

The sale has almost already been made unless i say something dumb or don't return your call. Assuming that I don't mess up the purchase that you've already decided that you want to make my odds of making this sale now are at 95%.

So now the only thing to consider is how you might use this information. Will you hire more salespeople and get them to start cold calling now or will you start some viral marketing or search engine optimization to get more traffic to your website? It is my claim that cold calling is a waste of time that annoys the people you are calling and is dreaded by those forced to make the calls. Having your website found when customers are ready to buy the products or services that your business sells is the best way to get new business. Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying sit like a jellyfish and hope that the wind blows the right way so that you might bump into something so that you can eat. I'm saying that after you have a website made someone should be able to search for what you do without knowing the name of your business and then they should be able to find your business. For example go to yahoo.com or google.com and search for "ad agency services" or search for "full service ad agency". In the pay per click section you'll see the agencies that have to pay for the rest of their lives to be listed. In the free section you'll find my agency, Ad Excellence.

I don't cold call, people who want the services that my company offers contact me.

Almost every business owner either has a website or wants a better website. We all realize that people check our our website and do research on the Internet before they call us to do business. So if our website design looks bad or the website is confusing people will call someone else. People like to do business with successful businesses so they check us out online first to see if we look successful and to get a feel for what we might be like.

The two videos below show how you can use a database driven website to make a great first impression on your clients.