Running a business to increase your sales requires perseverance and you must be willing to have goals, ask others for ideas and learn from your business mistakes by not repeating them.
However, a business person who doesn't realize how to effectively generate sales leads, will not build prospects and as a result, his business would suffer.
One Saturday around 8:00 in the morning, I drove to the nearby gas station to buy gas.
Now when I say "nearby", I mean "near to where I am driving to".
You see, I'm one of those people who ABSOLUTELY hates to buy gas.
I know I need it or I can't drive, but that doesn't mean I have to like stopping in the middle of where I'm going, to pump it.
It was a little cloudy outside and the chance of rain was 80%.
This may be why there were a lot of customers going in and out of the gas station so early in the morning.
Maybe they wanted to "gas-up" before it started to rain.
I don't know, but there were trucks coming in and long lines inside.
After I prepaid for my gas (I NEVER use my credit card at the gas pump after I had to wait several days to have the pay-at-the-pump excess charge credited back to my bank account), I stood next to the gas pump ready to pump my gas, when I saw a casually dressed man walk out of the store, go to his car and walk towards me.
Now I didn't know this man from Adam.
He had a package in his hand and I was so ready to say that I didn't have any money to give him, but before I could, he so humbly said that he has a business selling shoes and he proceeded to give me a pair of packaged sandals and started to turn around to walk away; but then as if he forgot, he handed me his business card with his business name, store address, phone number and email address.
He then walked away, got into his car and drove off.
I stood there for a second and thought "I just received a FREE pair of shoes!".
Then after I pumped my gas, I took a closer look at those shoes.
The sandals looked as if they were made quickly and with very cheap material.
The sandals looked like if I were to walk in them once, they would fall apart.
Out of curiosity, I drove to the salesman's shoe store and found that it had no window displays that would attract anyone driving by the store, to come in and shop.
There were shoes thrown everywhere.
There was no salesperson around to greet or help me when I walked in.
What if I was a thief or something?! There were no surveillance cameras (I'm not really a thief, just hypothetically speaking).
I looked around at the selection of shoes for about 20 minutes.
I noticed that the store telephone did not ring and there were no prospective customers coming in the store.
Once the salesperson walked to the front of the store, she was so preoccupied with stocking shoes that she didn't even look up at me.
When she was able to finally assist me, she could only take cash.
As I see it, that businessman will not be able to persuade many prospects to buy his products, therefore not making many sales.
As a result, he won't be making money.
Let me explain.
Hmm.
Where do I begin?! Well, the businessman was not appropriately dressed; the free shoes that he handed out was not made to last for more than a day; he did not try to promote his business; he didn't take advantage of all the potential customers that came in and out of the gas station; his shoe store was cluttered and messy and not attractive to outside prospects; also, I received poor customer service.
It was apparent that this shoe salesman was in some serious business trouble.
To keep your business from sinking, you must:
But if a business owner doesn't take advantage of sales prospects, his business would not survive.
You CAN overcome the lack of growth facing your business.
However, a business person who doesn't realize how to effectively generate sales leads, will not build prospects and as a result, his business would suffer.
One Saturday around 8:00 in the morning, I drove to the nearby gas station to buy gas.
Now when I say "nearby", I mean "near to where I am driving to".
You see, I'm one of those people who ABSOLUTELY hates to buy gas.
I know I need it or I can't drive, but that doesn't mean I have to like stopping in the middle of where I'm going, to pump it.
It was a little cloudy outside and the chance of rain was 80%.
This may be why there were a lot of customers going in and out of the gas station so early in the morning.
Maybe they wanted to "gas-up" before it started to rain.
I don't know, but there were trucks coming in and long lines inside.
After I prepaid for my gas (I NEVER use my credit card at the gas pump after I had to wait several days to have the pay-at-the-pump excess charge credited back to my bank account), I stood next to the gas pump ready to pump my gas, when I saw a casually dressed man walk out of the store, go to his car and walk towards me.
Now I didn't know this man from Adam.
He had a package in his hand and I was so ready to say that I didn't have any money to give him, but before I could, he so humbly said that he has a business selling shoes and he proceeded to give me a pair of packaged sandals and started to turn around to walk away; but then as if he forgot, he handed me his business card with his business name, store address, phone number and email address.
He then walked away, got into his car and drove off.
I stood there for a second and thought "I just received a FREE pair of shoes!".
Then after I pumped my gas, I took a closer look at those shoes.
The sandals looked as if they were made quickly and with very cheap material.
The sandals looked like if I were to walk in them once, they would fall apart.
Out of curiosity, I drove to the salesman's shoe store and found that it had no window displays that would attract anyone driving by the store, to come in and shop.
There were shoes thrown everywhere.
There was no salesperson around to greet or help me when I walked in.
What if I was a thief or something?! There were no surveillance cameras (I'm not really a thief, just hypothetically speaking).
I looked around at the selection of shoes for about 20 minutes.
I noticed that the store telephone did not ring and there were no prospective customers coming in the store.
Once the salesperson walked to the front of the store, she was so preoccupied with stocking shoes that she didn't even look up at me.
When she was able to finally assist me, she could only take cash.
As I see it, that businessman will not be able to persuade many prospects to buy his products, therefore not making many sales.
As a result, he won't be making money.
Let me explain.
Hmm.
Where do I begin?! Well, the businessman was not appropriately dressed; the free shoes that he handed out was not made to last for more than a day; he did not try to promote his business; he didn't take advantage of all the potential customers that came in and out of the gas station; his shoe store was cluttered and messy and not attractive to outside prospects; also, I received poor customer service.
It was apparent that this shoe salesman was in some serious business trouble.
To keep your business from sinking, you must:
- Set Goals
- Work With Others To Brainstorm New Ideas For Sales Leads
- Learn From Your Business Mistakes and
- Use Those Lessons In Your Sales Strategies
But if a business owner doesn't take advantage of sales prospects, his business would not survive.
You CAN overcome the lack of growth facing your business.