Turning that prospect into a customer
By Ken Ninomiya
 
“Prospecting is the work of the weak. My business comes tome”. Who dares to proclaim this type of arrogance and confidence.  I don’t recall any one knocking on my door to give me their business. It is true that, once in a while, a product or service comes around that people do stand in line for hours to get – like World Series tickets. This is probably not true in your business.

As a sales manager, it is necessary to develop a strong routine of developing sales leads and finding prospects.  Business cycles change and new customers replace the old,regenerate the new and refresh the sales process.  Hopefully, you have a prospect list to start from. This list usually can come from listing companies, the phone book, current customers, the Internet, networks or associations or from your old dead files (past customer that have not bought in years).  I normally use all of these methods to find prospects and then I go through a qualifying process to help narrow down strong possibilities for my products or service.  To qualify these prospects I ask the who, what, how much and when questions to who ever I can get a hold of at the prospects office. Once each account is qualified I try to take the next few steps to get me in the door.

I will call the prospect and try to set up an appointment.This sounds easier then it really is. I don’t believe in masking my true intentions to get me in the door so I try to pitch the value of my visit. I prepare an argument of why the prospect should see me and how I will help his business. I try to push some type of added value for them – actual savings to their bottom line, added value to their consumers, or I try to illustrate how my service is needed in their business. This call will basically setup an appointment or a disappointment. In case of the disappointment remember that sales is a numbers game. Some of the best batters in baseball are .300+ hitters(that’s 3 out of 10) and a great sales manager could do the same. The goal of the first call is to sell the customer on getting an appointment or creating some type of need for you and your product.

If success grants you the appointment then go to prospect prepared. If you sell a product make sure you have the proper samples,appropriate deals and order sheets. Do your homework on the competition. How does your product measure up and compare? Show the dollars and sense of a deal in black and white. It is suggested by some that visualization the sales call helps you succeed. I use this technique and run through the pro and con scenarios. Go through all of the FAQ’s in your head – anticipate the questions and have the right answers. I want to stress at this point that I never recommend making things up as you go along. The sales profession has come a long way to battle those stereotypes and I can assure you that your competitor is keeping it factual. If you don’t know the answer the typical response would be “ I will get back to you on that”.Make sure you do. I actually plan this step out and keep my Daytimer handy(yes-I still write it down). When a “..get back to you…” question comes up – I stop the presentation, take out my Daytimer and write it down. This is done to help me remember and for effect. Of course, I do get back to prospects whether the deal closes or not.

Have yourself organized. This includes the sales presentation, the samples, the process, the close and the follow-up.Organization can go a long way to combat any negative feelings that may develop during a prospecting call.  It is always difficult to build repoire with new prospects but organization,professionalism and courtesy are the building blocks.  After all is said an done and you have come to the conclusion –ask for the business. If you don’t try to close it may not happen.  If you get the objections,the brush off or the follow-up call always be grateful to the prospect. A thank you also goes a long way to help build new business relationships.  Since I still like to pen things out, Ido send a thank you card or follow-up note just so that don’t forget me so soon.

Ken Ninomiya has marketed and sold products internationally for nearly 20 years. He holds an Executive MBA from the Chapman School of Business, FIU and currently is VP of Sales and Marketing for EKN Links. EKN Links is a solutions company for domestic and international businesses providing sales, marketing, Public relations and business strategies. Ken can be reached at kenninomiya@eknlinks.com or www.eknlinks.com

Prospecting for new business from your desktop.
 
Business is grown in just three ways – grow your existing account base, develop new revenue streams with new products or ideas or get new business.  All three options have their own positive and negative effects on a business but all three have to be considered in a slow economic times or when your business has reached a certain level of market maturity.
 

This article will focus on gaining new business through prospecting.  Each company has a set of key elements that bring its product or service to the market. These key elements are presented to a targeted group of prospects who have the need for your product.  Locating this targeted group can sometimes be elusive and the lack of new prospects will deter the growth of your business.  So how does a company look for new prospects?

The internet allows us an affordable way to do our own searching for prospects.  I have worked with a sales person lately who needed to open up 16 new accounts a year selling a high end hair treatment and shampoo line. The opening order cost for any new account was a minimum investment of $3,000.00.  After understanding who will use the product and I turned to the internet for some quick searching.  Sometimes entering a key word or description of the product will turn up hundreds of potential customers. In my first online search I came up with thousands of hits. I used a drill down technique for each search. By simply adding the word “Florida” after the key words and a comma, I was able to narrow the list down just to the specific targeted territory.
 
Another internet strategy I use is to enter a key word for who would use the products. In this case I entered “high end hair salons, Florida” and “hair salons and spas, Florida”. This resulted in another list slightly different then the first but added several hundred additional more prospects.  I also looked for competitive websites. There are times that a competitor will post their entire account list on the web – yours for the taking.
 
Now that we have some new prospect names – what do we do with them?  Here is where most companies, sales managers and sales reps fail.  It can be a daunting task to have 43 pages of new prospects. Where does one start? My first suggestion would be to go through the entire list and read the name, location and type of account they are if this information is available.  Often times it would be a good idea to share this list with your controller or “accounts receivable” person within your company to see if you can eliminate any deadbeat accounts. If you have a sales manager it might be a good idea to share this list with them also to see if there is any history there.  I would not suggest eliminating any names because you don’t like the area they are in or the name of their business. Remember, a good sales person does not make the decision for the buyer and one should never be quick to discount new business.
 
Qualifying the prospect is the next most important thing to do.  It’s time to make sure that they fit your customer type and that they will have a need for your product or service.  Go to their website and look around – you may find out that they already buy your competition or have a missing need to fill with your product. You can learn a lot about a company from an on-line search. I would also call them up. The first call is an exploratory call. If it’s a large company and you get the receptionist see if you can ask some qualifying questions to that first screener. Questions I have used are “Do you currently sell or use (enter your product or service hear)? If you get a yes, dig some more on the who, what and how much? If you get a “no”,  find out if they ever tried to sell or use your products? If it sounds like a possibility for a customer, ask the screener for the person who is in charge of making that buying decision. If they can set up an appointment for that person do so on the call. There are times when you make one call and get to the decision maker immediately. In this case, I would recommend a conversation that starts off with “I hope that you can offer me your opinion about my product or service” and then get into some qualifying questions.
 
Don’t forget while we are prospecting to ask for referrals and leads to new business. Sometimes the next big contract comes from your last source of business. If you provide a valuable product or service and maintain a professional and courteous relationship with your customers-they will refer you to others.

Ken Ninomiya has marketed and sold products internationally for nearly 20 years. He holds an Executive MBA from the Chapman School of Business, FIU and currently is VP of Sales and Marketing for EKN Links. EKN Links is a solutions based company for domestic and international businesses providing sales, marketing, Public relations and business strategies. Ken can be reached at kenninomiya@eknlinks.com or www.eknlinks.com. style="font-family: Arial;">

Ready…Aim…Fire! This is not a firearms exercise. It is an excercise in target marketing. Are you practicing the aim of a superior marksman or are you using a shotgun effect to see what you hit? In this economy can you afford to miss you target<< MORE >>

If your reading this your on line. Congratulations!  

I have often come across great product ideas within companies that fail. The failure is not because the product is bad. The product fails because of poor management planning that applies the wrong new product strategy. The old saying of  “Fail to plan – plan to fail” holds true with the launch of a new product or product strategy. ekn links has helped a number of our clients understand the process of launching a new product.

Management must always challenge them selves to be better regardless of financial consideration within or outside the walls of the company. The new GM management team will be struggling with the reposition of the company in the coming years and it must start with new product development. Can the new GM deliver a new vehicle that the U.S. consumer wants?nts? Will the new GM management team be able to use the old GM positioning to re-launch the company and bring it back to its former glory? The management team must answer the question of which market their business should be focused on? Where will their opportunities come from? How do we grow the business with existing product and the launch of new product? 

There are three basic ways to increase revenue for any given company. The company can increase market share with existing lines in new channels, sell more of the products to the same channels or come up with a new product for key channels. ekn links has helped our clients recognize revenue growth through product development, market development and sales development. These are several strategies management can take to help accomplish growth goals and each one of those decisions have cost and ROI factors to consider. In today’s fast past market and in the case of the new GM, a new product is key to building the business. The concept of new product development and new product strategy is one that requires an understanding of who you are and who your customers. You cannot develop new products without knowing your existing business and how you fit into the marketplace.

The first goal of a company that wants to release a new product is to know where your company stands in the market place today and to know what your position is as a company. In marketing we often use product-positioning grids to identify where our products are and in this case I suggest using a company-positioning grid. There are several specific company strategy positions that most companies can be lumped into. Identifying your company strategy position type will be key to helping you plan out your new product release and outlining future plans.           

A company strategy can be broken into these four types:

1.             Innovators: These companies are normally first to market with new product and generally rely on new technologies to help advance their market position. Innovative companies often respond very quickly to new emerging opportunities and can get a product out fast through their existing channels.
   
2.             Followers: If you are second in line than eventually you will be first. The followers believe in this strategy. These companies usually monitor their competitors and are rarely first to market but learn from the innovators mistakes. In some cases the followers can make a better model than the innovators and are able to reduce production cost. They also have the advantage of releasing a product into a familiar market and they ride the success of the innovators first mover advantage.
   
3.             Defenders: This company will generally serve a niche market or geographic environment in most cases. They will seek to hold a position in the market place and rarely follow the leader. Often times this company remains stagnant in growth but maintains a steady market share and profit. These defending companies may also offer a high quality product at competitive pricing which allows them to fortify their market position.
   
4.             Re-Actors:  These companies are not aggressive at all in trying to gain market share. They normally hold their position well and are well funded with market resources. These types of companies only go into a new market because they have no other reasonable choice while being forced by the micro and macro environments to make a move.

Once you have defined the type of company position you are in your management team must identify the type of product strategy you follow. In some case companies you may have several different product lines that fall into different product strategies. If this is true than you should identify the strategy that best matches your new product launch.

Here are the basic product strategy choices:

• Differentiated: Your product is highly sophisticated and different. There are possible high growth markets and your product has little to no competition.
  
•  Low Budget: These products are usually copycat products made of inferior components and quality. These products do rely on heavy marketing but drive revenue through volume of low prices.
  
• Tech Driven: Innovative high tech products that need to be released into a rapid changing market environment. These types of products may have a very steep product life cycle and often have a lack of focus towards their targeted market.
  
• Low Tech: This product lacks innovation and is low tech. These products exist for a small market and have very little market strategies.
  
• High Budget: These products use a large amount of company resources and do not have a string promise of success. Development of these products is key above all and their cost are evaluated based on the opportunity of future markets.

ekn links can help your management team understand your company market position and your product strategy. We will help you develop your product with your management team as they recognize the steps of developing a new product strategy. With a understanding of who you are as a company, the second step demands that you understand where your current products are now.

For this exercise, I like to create a grid that identifies all of the products by individual item. If you have many items across different product families you may only want to use those products that you feel are candidates in the comparison and that will help you define this new product launch strategy. Consider products that share the same marketing channels, the same consumer or same selling space. Will your new product launch affect current product sales? Do you want a consumer dollar swap as a new product launch result?  Plot out your products, your competitors and your new product scheduled to be launched.

Take a look at your existing products and compare your new product against them does it fit in? If you sell white tennis shoes to men over 65 can you sell 4” high heel pumps to women under 25? If your new product doesn’t fit in you may need an additional set of resources to launch the new product. Using this comparison you should be able to identify gaps in the market place and in your product portfolio.

Define your new product target market and potential markets based on where the gaps may be located. Eliminate any markets that seem a far reach so that you can focus on the sure ones.

After you have identify some gaps in the current market and you have convinced yourself that your new product will have a shot you, you will need to answer what I call the Go Questions. The set of GO Questions are the basic fundamental questions you will need to have answered as you begin the product launch.

Now you have gather enough data to understand where you are as a company and where you products currently sit in your existing market. You have also plotted your new product against your competitors and your current product portfolio to identify gaps in the market. You should have also thoroughly answered the GO Questions with well though out answers. All of this information will be used to help you formulate your product launch plan. You should follow these basic steps to launch the product.

1 – Create your goals. Make them realistic and attainable for the first two years. When developing these goals ask yourself these questions:

            a) How do these new products fit into your existing product portfolio?

            b) How do these new products fit into your company?

            c) What will our consumers think about these new products?

            d) How will our channels react about our new products?

When creating your goal statement you should be very specific with exact deadlines and numbers to meet. A realistic achievable goal will help you set the pace for the launch.

2 – Identifying your target areas. Where will your new products be focused? Who will be your customers? How will you get the product to them? What do you need to do to reach them?

3- Allocate your resources and prioritize your spending. Create a budget that captures all of the potential areas of resources needed to compete your goal.  Remember that resources also include people, places and things not just dollars.

4- Develop a plan for implementation that includes all of the information you have gathered so far.  This is where you have to be as specific as possible to capture the details of the plan. You may want to use a project worksheet to help you keep track of all deliverables and assign specific team members task with clear objectives and deadlines.

Launching a new product is a wonderful experience that the entire company can be involved in. A successful product launch can help to re-position your company in the market place and take market share away from your competitors. A poor product launch could drain the company of valuable resources and allow the competitors to bite into your current market share due to a lack of focus and market rejection. 

We know where we are within the economy. We know where we have been. We may also know where we are going.  

ekn links I have seen a lot of good ideas and bad ideas but the ideas that have a shot of actually doing something are base off of dedication, drive and basic research. It does not take too long to see where your opportunities are in any market even one as low as this current one. The key to finding out where your oppportunity is is doing some research. As marketers we must rely on primary and secondary data.

Primary Data is collected for the first time and done for the original marketer. This data is collected for a specific purpose and is generally directly commissioned and costly. In today's market enironment primary data is used on very high-profit oppotunity ideas by most small businesses.

Here are some methods of primary research:
1. Interviews
2. Focus groups
3. Projective techniques
4. Product tests and work groups
5. Commissioned Studies

Secondary marketing research already exist and is relatively cheap.
You can get this information from many sources - including the internet and this blog! This data is general and needs to be examined for its usefulness but it can help you create a strong direction for your plans.

Here are some ways to collect secondary data:
1. Trade associations and industry press
2. National and local press, internet
3. National/international government data.

This US Census is a cheap source to start - here is the web site: http://www.census.gov/

During all your research you must focus on several research opportunities:
1- Analyze customers, and their needs
2- Monitor the macro environment
3- Evaluate any marketing activities in place currently
4- Redefine research pool if samples are not satisfactory.

he task of research and evaluation of the data is the most difficult part. What do you do what the data you collected? How can I use this data to apply to my product? Dirty data is a common challenge marketers face and creates havoc on marketing plans. It is hard to learn how to filter out the noise and eliminate the dirty data allowing you to get to the clean "scrubbed" data that a marketing team can rely on to get a task done.

Marketers must validate and question any sources that could supply biased data and this data can certainly come from distributors, retailers or other intermediaries and the internet! Every marketer must research the data validity and reliability before trusting it to a valued decision. Even small, informal research conducted poorly will not produce relevant required results.

All research will have an inherent flaw in it. Poor results can come from many reasons but are often tied to how one gets the data. To validate most research one must first set the measurements and benchmarks and than validate that it is measuring the right data. Data or reports available for purchase normally make a claim as to what they are measuring such as competitors’ products, market conditions etc. Even the smallest reports qualify how the data was collected. You can search for a number of companies that offered pre-packaged data and reports. Most governments also offer statistics and marketing data through their commerce agencies for free. These are great tools to understand the basic surface markets.

Because you read this blog - I'll help you save a few hundred bucks - try out the FREE gov site www.stat-usa.gov/ .
ekn links can help you make sense of all this data madness and put it together for you in a strategic marketing report. Contact us now at info@eknlinks.com or visit us at www.eknlinks.com to learn more about market research.

eknlinks can help you to reach your target audience. Below is an example of a video created for on line and on air vieweing to launch a new company and product here in the US.


Post by : Ken Ninomiya , VP Sales and Marketing, ekn links ekn links Ken Ninomiya specializes in developing and implementing results-oriented sales and marketing programs for international manufacturers. He has held positions with one of the largest food manufacturers in South America, a start up of a fortune 100 company, and Sales Director for a division of Dole and Tressallure (a Revlon licensed company). Ken has 20+ years of experience in branded and private label consumer packaged goods and specification/contract products. Appointed as the Trade Liaison to Shanghai, China as a resident from 1992-1994, he helped a number international of companies understand the U.S. market. With an understanding of Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, Ken Ninomiya holds a marketing degree from Dallas Baptist University specializing in International Business, and an Executive MBA from the Chapman School of Business at FIU. Ken has earned academic business awards and the Richard Boulware Scholarship for entrepreneurship. He has authored and created business cases and an interactive business simulation for executive training and is an adjunct professor of executive education in marketing management.

Welcome to my blog. Join us weekly for comments, ideas and tips on marketing and sales. If you have a comment make it known.  Please check back weekly  for new entries.

Have a marketing challange. Contact ekn links. we can help.  www.eknlinks.com



ekn links will help you position and market your branded products