It might not seem much – just doing one thing, every day, to get more customers & drive our business forwards.
But time is precious. Especially when you run a business. There’s never quite enough of it.
We’ve recently completed a project for a new client. They run a business club, that adds SO much value for small companies in their area. They really do make a difference.
And we’ve written some sales letters for them – a cold sales letter for people they don’t know, and a warm version for prospects they’ve met through networking – inviting business owners to join the club, to grow their membership base.
What’s really smart is the approach they’ve taken to delivering the campaign.
They’re sending one sales letter out – in a handwritten, shiny purple envelope – every day.
And then making one call every day, to follow up.
Which is clever.
Now – they don’t need (or want) 000’s of new members. Their average client value is relatively high. Just 20 new people joining the club would be hugely impactful for their bottom line.
For many of us (ourselves included in the past!), we send a BIG campaign to hundreds or thousands of prospects. We get a flurry of work coming in – which is great.
But then we get SO busy fulfilling this work, that our marketing stops. There’s just not time to do everything.
The danger is that once the big campaign is over –Â all the work is done & dusted – there’s no more leads in the pipeline.
It leads to a kind of rollercoaster effect, with big peaks of income, and then major cashflow dips. It makes managing our cashflow really stressful. And then business gets a lot less fun.
Now – I’m not saying for a second that big campaigns don’t have their place. Of course, they do. And if you need to constantly attract 100’s or 1000’s of new customers – or if your average sale value is very low – then this approach might not be right for you.
But small, consistent action – every single day, to bring sales in – is a great way to get off the cashflow rollercoaster.
Instead of manic peaks & major troughs in sales, you start to see that rhythmic acquistion of customers. Because every single day, you’re having sales conversations, to bring new business in.
This works:
- To go out to cold prospects;
- To target lapsed clients, who used to buy from you but don’t anymore;
- AND for your existing customers, to see if there’s anything else you can do serve them better & increase your revenue per client.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. You can print your sales letters off – no need to mailmerge – and just post one a day. A couple of days later, you email or call to follow up. You make the sale. You can record it all in a basic spreadsheet or your CRM.
It’s 10 or 15 minutes of your time, every day.
And it’s the cumulative effect that’s powerful.
Assuming you work 5 days a week, that’s 20 high-quality sales conversations a month. 60 in a quarter. 240 over a year.
If 20 new clients a year would make a HUGE difference in your business – you only need to convert 1 in 12 to get there.
This is also powerful if you’re prone to procrastination with marketing (as I think we all are, from time to time!).
It’s daunting to be faced with a list of 50 prospects to call. Or even 15. It’s tough making sales call after sales call. So you put it off until tomorrow; then ’til next week. And then it doesn’t really happen at all.
Just one follow-up call is SO much easier to psyche yourself up for.
And because you’re not rushing through it – to have time to make the other 14 calls – the sales conversations are better quality, too.
If we can help at all – with crafting your campaign, writing your sales letters or working out who to target – then just give us a shout. We’d love to chat it all through. Just leave your details below, email me at laura@tellmystory.uk or call 01600 887529.
And if you do try out this approach for the first time, then we’d love to know how you get on!
Until next time
Tell My Story 