Brilliant sales ideas are overlooked every day. Sometimes things seem so simple that they never get tried. Sales professionals often tend to over think things - so the combination of missing a simple idea and then over thinking can equal lost revenues.
I missed the original post on the Nimble website written by Craig Elias, creator of Trigger Event Selling™ so when I heard Craig in Boston recently presenting this idea I was stunned.
"It's so simple, " I said. "It's also something I rarely see anyone do."
Craig concurred, and here is one SINGLE simple sales strategy that can give you HUGE new visibility, so eloquently presented by Craig:
When your prospect or your customer moves to another company:
- Follow your contact to their new position – don’t wait for them to reach out to you.
- Find out where the person they replaced went and call them, too.
- Contact the person who replaced your prospect at their previous position.
- Find out where the person who took your prospect’s job came from because that company now has a vacancy and whoever fills that position will be new in their role and is now up to 10X more likely to become your customer.
Research shows that new decision makers and recommenders in a company are ten times more likely to become your customer for a number of reasons. One reason is that they did not build the current environment but rather inherited it - so if there are big problems and issues, they are more likely to want to fix them. Existing decision makers with problems are sometimes the cause of them. If you point out problems to existing executives, that's like calling their baby ugly.
There are tools now that help you track prospects and contacts like never before. Use them.
DiscoverOrg.com shares that:
80% of the newly hired or promoted IT Leaders who would spend $1,000,000 or more on new initiatives did so within 3 months of starting their new job
So I ask you - ARE you tracking where your contacts are going? Are you calling them regularly? Can you see how this ONE idea could offer you hundreds of new, highly qualified opportunities by keeping in better touch with those buyers and prospective customers who know you or would warm up to you through knowing you are connected to the person they followed?
Craig shares an example of how simple tracking of buyers and prospects (I call them collectively "contacts") leads to thousands of opportunities in the first year. They are not just any leads, either - they are going to lead to opportunities more likely to close.
It's a simple concept anyone can grasp. Elite sellers do this and have benefited greatly - why not give it a try?
The full post with more detail can be found at Follow the Bouncing Email to a Gazillion Leads.
I challenge you to create an experiment out of this idea - put it in place over the next 90 days and see what happens. You'll need a good contact tracking system - many options to choose from. If you need help getting started, and are in B2B sales or sales leadership - contact us for a brief strategy session - you won't regret it.
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I've been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.
Lori Richardson is recognized on Forbes as one of the "Top 30 Social Sales Influencers" worldwide. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside sales teams in mid-sized companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.