7 Tips to Closing More Sales

Remember Willie Sutton? Willie was a bank robber.

When asked why he robbed banks, he replied: “Because that’s where the money is.” (No! I’m not suggesting that you rob a bank. 🙂 )

Willie’s story came to mind when I was recently asked by a sales consulting client, “How do I grow my business?”

My reply was: “Go where your customers are!”

To that end, I suggest you start attending networking opportunities, business meetings, trade shows and conventions.

Go where your customers are. Meet people. Introduce yourself. Collect business cards. And follow up with a phone call.

Unfortunately, I’m always amazed by the number of people who attend networking opportunities and don’t come prepared.

My goal in life is to help you become more successful, so I’ve prepared a list of seven sales tips you should follow that will help you become an expert networker.

1. Always Bring Plenty Of Business Cards.
How many times have you met someone who says, “I left the office in a hurry and forgot to put them in my briefcase.”

A lame excuse at best. Keep a supply of business cards in your briefcase or purse.

2. Keep Your Business Cards In A Place That’s Easy To Access.
When you’re networking, make it easy to exchange business cards.

For myself, I keep my business cards in my left pants pocket and place the cards I’ve received in my right pocket.

Ladies, don’t bury your business cards in the bottom of your purse or brief case.

I met Marcy two weeks ago at a business meeting. It took her so long to find her business cards that I thought she was on an archeological expedition.

It was painful watching her go through everything in her purse as she kept mumbling to herself, “I know they’re in here…”

3. Don’t Be A Wall Flower.
When you are at a networking event, your goal is to meet people. Don’t stand by yourself off in a corner, or spend 90 minutes talking with your friends.

Go out of your way to meet people. You may even find a potential customer, or two.

One technique you can use is to think of the event as YOUR party. Since it’s YOUR party, you’re going to act like the host or hostess. Introduce yourself to everybody.

4. Smile.
Smile. Introduce yourself. Ask the other person what they do, and give them your elevator speech.

5. Ask For The Other Person’s Business Card.
When speaking with a person, you MUST get their business card. Always ask for it at the beginning of the conversation. Should the conversation be interrupted – because someone else came by – you’ve already got the business card.

6. Write Notes To Yourself On The Business Card.
It’s not always easy to remember who someone is and what they do – especially after you’ve met a dozen new people in an hour – so discreetly write a note to yourself on the person’s business card at the conversation’s conclusion.

If you want to call the person up, jot down what it is that you want to discuss with him.

7. Spend No More Than Three To Five Minutes With Each Person.
Your goal at a networking event is to mingle. To spend a little bit of time with as many people as possible.

Ask questions about who they are and what they do so you can learn about their business situation. Get a business card, discreetly write notes to yourself and look for someone else to meet.

Follow Up On Networking Opportunities
Being a great networker – and collecting a lot of business cards – is only the first part of the sales equation. The second part is picking up the phone and following up.

The single biggest networking failure is that they don’t follow-up after the initial contact/introduction is made.

People will go to any extreme to avoid picking up the phone. They send letters saying how much they enjoyed meeting you, and never follow-up. Or even worse, they say at the end of the letter that you should call them if you’ve an interest in their product or service.

If you want to become a huge success in business, pick up the phone and call the wonderful people you just met.

– Jeffrey