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Call your existing base and ask about there needs. Then call your base and offer a free service call if they can refer someone. 4 of the 5 of the things you listed take time, several months.
Just an old phone man just trying to stay busy selling hosted solutions and POTs line replacement devices.
I'm trying to increase our sales by a large margin this upcoming month and just need some input.
Good luck. When you figure out how to do it let me know.
-Hal
CALIFORNIA PROPOSITION 65 WARNING: Some comments made by me are known to the State of California to cause irreversible brain damage and serious mental disorders leading to confinement.
SSPHONE hit it on the nose. But you really need to get out there and network(BNI, Chambers). If you play the networking game right, go to all the mixers and meet new people you'll consistantly get new clients.
When things get slow around here, we usually send out flyers to existing customers and any other addresses we can round up for one free hour of service for new customers, or a free half hour for both parties if someone refers a new customer. Cold calling I have found personally to produce jack squat. People hear the word "phone" on the phone and think you are trying to shaft them with some long distance scam, you tend to get sworn at on occasion. Another good way is like mentioned above, start contacting existing client base and ask how things are going, you will usually get someone somewhere in there with a need for a change or upgrade. Sorry I can't offer a good quick fix for rounding up lots of business in a hurry, because if I could I would probably be busy doing it right now and not posting on Sundance, good luck!
When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming and panicking like the passengers in his car.
I have found orgs. like BNI to be OK if you are good at networking, but chambers tend to be over stocked with interconnect companies. They also seem to be full of too many small companies that have no need for a telephone system, and these people seem to be the active members in the weekly meetings. We have had luck with smaller chambers in the surrounding towns, but they dry up real fast due to their smaller size.
Our best luck has come from referals from current customers and upgrades of current customers.
As someone who hires wiring vendors I can tell you that I wish a wiring vendor would walk into my business with a flier of some type along with an hourly estimate.
When my first wiring guy left he gave me no notice, he was just done. I called everyone who's ad in the telephone book enticed me and most of them didn't wire telephone systems. I then checked with my local Avaya telecom group memebers to find the next guy that wired for me for 6 years. When he was assigned to jobs across the state I had to start looking again. I have a large company who always comes when I need them but they always send a different guy who I need to show around our big and OLD building. I could kill for one guy to be our main wiring person who can get to know our building. If I'm in need of this, I'm sure other companies are as well.
Another idea is to find out if there is a user group in the area for the type of phone system you wire and get yourself linked on their webpage and attend any type of local/state meetings they gather at.
The only thing I wouldn't do is make a cold call and keep returning to bug a company. That's the surest way for me to toss a business card.
To Succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone. ..Reba McEntire
Originally posted by Aircomllc: To any one who does sales as well as installations..
What type of advertising/sales methods have you had the best of luck with?
Cold Calling potential clients? Mailing brochures? Walking and and asking to speak with ops/GM? Radio/TV Ads? Billboards?
I'm trying to increase our sales by a large margin this upcoming month and just need some input.
Thanks
Keith
to the forum Keith
I noticed you didn't include Internet advertising. It's not a way to increase sales by a large margin next month but it's definitely a way to increase sales and the sooner the better (less competition in it's infancy) IMHO...if your company would have started Internet advertising say a year or 2 ago, you wouldn't be here asking that question.
But good luck and let us know what you did and how it worked out.
It certainly wouldn't hurt to pick up an advertising or "Find an Installer" slot here at Sundance. I have picked up some pretty decent sales, not to mention that word of mouth resulting from them has led to even more. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't guarantee us the sale, but it's a very economical medium for advertising. It also narrows the competition, unlike the dozens of Yellow Pages listings.
Every day, people come here for the first time frustrated because they can't find someone to sell them a system to suit their requirements. Many times, it's only because they don't know how to go about it. When they Google something like "help with selecting a telephone system", chances are that some post from Sundance and Tech Talk will show up. That's pretty good advertising odds if you ask me. If your company is associated with it, you have a good chance of getting a happy customer.
to the forum Keith
