Improve Your Sales by Making the Most Out of Your Business Contacts

Getting ahead in business can be tough, but thankfully the contacts you have and use in your everyday business life could just help you in more ways than you think. Everyone has business contacts, be those friends or family, people you met through networking, or even your customers and clients. These business contacts are a valuable asset to you and to your business, especially when it comes to improving and increasing sales.

Utilising your existing contacts is always a good starting point for improving your sales as you don't have to sell to them. For example they will already know what you have and what you have to offer, all you have to do is simply reiterate and restate what you have that will benefit them, their businesses and their everyday lives.

Some businesses are profitable thanks to their existing customers, so isn't it a time you look up your old customer database, and scan through that phone book for contacts they could well just turn into sales.

On average I would recommend that you spend 30 minutes each day working on existing contacts. Make a list of who you want to contact, why, and most importantly what you want to get out of each call. Not knowing what you are looking to achieve, is a recipe for disaster, so, set yourself targets, work out why your contacts are assets to you, and get emailing, tweeting and phoning your way to more sales.

To make each call with your existing contacts successful here are two top tips for sales calls success.

• 1. Never do the hard sell. Nobody likes answering the phone and just getting a hard sell from the outset. Instead take the time to personalise each call and each sale. Why should this person buy from you and what can you offer. Use a soft sell approach and you will see better results.
• 2. Treat every contact with the respect and individuality they deserve. Yes they are potential sales to you, but they want to be treated fairly, with respect, and most importantly like valued customers. To achieve this you must ensure that you tailor each call to the contact. Never just read off a script as each contact you have in your address book will be different, and will want different things, so keep this in mind. I have found making notes throughout the call a good thing, as this gives me reference notes on the contact, and most importantly, it gives me scope for future calls.