Written By: Cheryl Ellemberg, www.abdpromotions.com, www.gilroypromo.com

Having a process for more referrals, leads and contacts is like knowing the secret to a good recipe.  What do you need to do to generate more business? What happens when you get a contact?

Preparation and Opportunity = Success, right?

To prepare for a contact, keep a few things in mind:

  1. Take the job no matter the budget. When you are just starting out, keep in mind that a one time order could turn into a repeat order.  For example, ordering business cards may not provide a huge profit margin but ordering over and over again when the customer trusts you, will be beneficial to both of you in the long run.
  2. Interview one another. The customer usually interviews you regarding whether s/he will benefit from your products and services.  For the business owner, it is just as important to interview the client as well.  Think beyond monetary gain – there are many other factors of value to you as well – time, connections, etc.
  3. Learn from the process. We are all human.  Sometimes mistakes will happen.  The important factor to success is thinking of how to make it a win-win situation.  For example, what happens when a manufacturer’s shipment is destroyed.  Both the distributor and the customer are in a bind.  How the situation is handled is what differentiates you from your competition.  In this instance, the manufacturer refused to cover the expenses of the lost shipment and paid for the shipping only after much debate.  What we did was cover the $50 discount to the customer, explain the situation to the customer and ensure we were on the same side.  Subsequently, we as the distributor will no longer work with this manufacturer but this customer will continue to work with us because we treated the situation in a fair and respectful manner.

To be prepared for a meeting with a customer, you should:

Connect with your customer and get remembered!