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Closing Sales and Generating Leads
By selfemployedblog | April 5, 2006
“A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, always be closing” - Glengarry Glenross
“There is no such thing as a “no sale” call. A sale is made on every call you make. You either sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can’t. Either way it’s a sale. The question is, who’s gonna close, you or him? Be relentless! Alright, I’m done.” - Boiler Room
I wanted to share the two quotes above from two of my favorite movies, “Glengarry Glenross” and “Boiler Room”. If you’ve seen either movie, you know they are based around the principle of selling. Whatever business you’re in, you are trying to sell something. Either your services or a product. Some companies even hire sales people specifically for this task.
Personally, I am not a sales person. Fortunately for me, most of my business comes from referrals. But I still have to perform some type of marketing for my web sites. This would involve SEO, online ads, etc. Offline sales can be a little more difficult. Here are a few options:
Cold Calling
You can cold call your prospects which requires patience and thick skin. Many people don’t like cold calls and can be very rude to you.
Networking
Networking is a great way to generate leads. You can network by joining your city’s chamber of commerce. They almost always have networking opportunities throughout the month depending on how active your chamber is. Another way is by joining groups of interest. Meetup.com is a free service that lets you meet up with groups of people that share the same interests.
Flyers, direct mail, & business cards
Having printed materials on hand that you can post up in different areas or mail to prospects is a great way to advertise. When I applied for my first business license, I received tons of direct mail ads from accountants to office supplies. The amount I receive now has slowed but I still look through them to see if there is anything I could use.
Closing sales is an artform. You can improve over time or if your budget permits, hire an expert to do it for you. As long as you own your business, you won’t be able to escape it. It’s best to learn some sales techniques as you go and get better along the way.
Topics: Marketing |