What does that blue ocean look like now?

I’ve worked in sales of one form or another for, well… a while. I’ve seen multiple recessions. I’ve worked on two continents and supported sales people in markets around the globe. And it’s no secret that for many sales people, they’ve found themselves either burnt out and exhausted, or wondering what the heck they’re supposed to do now.

So where does that land us today? We’re nearly at Christmas. In the world of hospitality or travel this is a time of year when we should all be sweating over cocktails and giggles at some fashionable barge by the river. Where I live in Melbourne, Australia the whole country is about to shut down for a well-deserved two month holiday where will will (carefully) reconnect with friends and loved ones who we’ve been missing for most of the year while we’ve been locked down for health and safety.

I’ve had a number of conversations with friends and former colleagues about goal-setting and KPI’s. “This year is a wash, and who knows what’s coming next year…” and so on. At the end of the day, as sales people and business development leaders we know that we need to generate business, but we’re a bit stuck on how to create realistic targets, and even some of the best sales people I know are still a bit hesitant to start talking to clients again.

As we go hurling towards the new year maybe consider that perhaps 2021 is the year we redefine our typical KPI’s. I’m not suggesting we scrap pro-active selling - no no no no no. But I am suggesting that we take the pressure of yield or conversion off our sales people and allow them the flexibility to have meaningful, careful and human connections with their prospects and clients. Set some targets that focus on cleaning up and sharpening your databases - if your CRM was garbage before, I bet it’s an absolute dumpster fire now. Perhaps you consider tapping into your team talent to create and share original content. Find a way to refresh, reconnect, and share. And if you absolutely must create a KPI around connection and activity - be realistic, be fair, and be human. If you put pressure on your sales people to go out, bashing a challenger mindset and forcing some level of commitment from their clients, I’m going to suggest that you’re more likely to damage your organisation’s reputation and that of your sales people.

This is the year to be human and to show up and be supportive and understanding for your clients as humans as well as potential prospects. It’s Melbourne… maybe start with a friendly coffee.

Five ways to find more clients

I’ve walked into any number of organisations whereby the existing team says something along the lines of “We’re very well regarded in the industry, and we work with all the major corporations in this market. I’m sure you won’t find any new opportunities”. My Dad once told my brother that I could “find myself in a room full of horseshit and I’d spend two hours looking for the pony”. I am one of those incessant, growth-mindset, optimists who really does think there is a silver lining or at the very least a decent opportunity in any pile of shit.

But it is an interesting question - how do you walk into an established organisation and an established sales team and still manage to uncover new opportunities? Or, if you ARE one of those established sales people, how do you continue to show value to your organisation by finding more clients?

I’m sure I’m aging myself with this reference, but do you remember that scene in Working Girl? Not the one where she’s commuting on the Staten Island Ferry in a power suit, slouch socks and Reeboks…. no, the scene where she’s reading the newspaper and puts two and two together that there was a business opportunity. Take a leaf out of Melanie’s book - and do some research…. carefully.

I was working for a time at a small start up where I had the freshiest of fresh sales teams who all worked REALLY well together. We would sit together every morning and compare notes on how we found new prospects to connect with. We had split the team by vertical markets which, I will say does make this exercise a bit easier to accomplish - but one of the activities knocked out early in the piece was we pulled a list of every company they had worked with. Then company by company we looked up their competitors to see if we had worked with them. If the answer was “no”, they were added to the prospect list. I ran the same activity for myself when I joined a well-established Travel Management Company and it lead us to a $20M multi-national prospect who wasn’t even recorded in their CRM.

So here are my five tips:

1) Assume there MUST be opportunities you haven’t uncovered yet

2) Clean up your CRM, and ensure you’re contacts are correct

3) Evaluate your existing clients list, the size of the organisation, the industry, their location etc - and check to see if you’re working with their closest competitors

4) Use “Emerging” company lists that are published by ASX etc to identify new prospects

5) That old annoying 80/20 rule… even when you’re really busy with existing prospects, carve out time to make calls to new prospects. Keep adding to the funnel