2 Right 2 Left Prospecting

If you are doing business in an area of town, an office building or an industrial complex, you should always take 10 minutes and visit each 2 companies to the left and right of the company you are there to see. If you keep some information packages in your car, you will have everything you need, to walk in and have a very brief, informal meeting with the companies around your customers. Don’t be afraid to tell them why you are in the area - visiting customers. Very often, the receptionist is not necessarily the decision maker however when faced with a live person and not a phone call, will be much more inclined to give up information. If you generate a good list of opening questions to ask the “gatekeepers” you should have good success at getting a brief, impromptu meeting with the person who you want to speak with.

If you did this with a portfolio of 70 clients, you will hit about 280 additional prospects during your regular visits. If you close 5% of those, you have just found 14 new accounts. The 14 new customers would represent approximately $xx,xxx in net new business for your region.

Keys to success:

1. Always have marketing packages in your car
2. Make it a daily habit
3. Make a good first impression
4. Find out the best person to speak with in the company
5. Follow up with the customers you visited

3 Wide 3 Deep

Expand Your Knowledge and Sphere of Influence

With any account or prospect there is almost always more than one point of contact that you can be working with. The goal of this program is to find as many of these people as possible to increase your penetration and ownership of the account. By focusing your efforts on expanding relationships to 3 different departments and speak to at lest 3 people in each of the business areas, you have a much better chance and maximizing the potential of your accounts.

When speaking to your customers, remember that all departments have document needs; you just need to find out what they are. If you have existing relationships to work with, once they are qualified, use these relationships to help you penetrate new areas of business.
Some areas of business to focus on are:

• Marketing
• Human Resources
• Training
• Corporate Office (Executive Assistants)
• Purchasing/Procurement/Strategic Sourcing
• Logistics
• Customer Service
• Sales
• Promotions
• Corporate Relations