THRIFTY SELLING

By Karen Connor

How can you continue to attract leads and generate clients during these tight economic times?? Be a thrifty seller! That means being open to new ideas and getting your creative juices flowing.

There are many ways you can continue to sell your service without forking out a lot of bucks. Contact, contact, contact! Staying in touch with your current clients and potential clients is always important. Besides, since everyone is a tad bit slower lately, everyone has more time to talk.

Maybe you have a client who utilized your service in the past, but you haven't heard from them lately. Send a "Miss you" letter. Tell them you miss servicing their company, that you are still interested in finding them staff and what specialties you still have to offer. Always give them access to you, your website, and your email!

Do you have a prospect client that you would love to have, but are having trouble selling them on your services? Give them your Company Resume. List your company's objective in servicing their firm. List your experience servicing other firms of their type. List your locations and if possible, list some references. You can also browse their website and in the résumé objective, merge the services that you can offer with their company objective. Have a fun cover letter when you fax over the resume. The Human Resource department will notice your creativity and attention to detail when you customize your Company Resume to their firm. They are always reviewing resumes, but usually from individuals. How unique!

Follow up, Follow up, Follow up! After sending out the "Miss you" letter and/or company resume, CALL. See if they received it, see what they thought, see if they might want to schedule an appointment, see if they are in need of your services now and/or if you may contact them in the future. Then plan to call again. Friendly persistence does pay off.

Cards are a great follow up too—people love to get small little notes that say you care. Thank them for the new job order, thank them for taking your call, your appointment, etc. Hand write the note, use a real stamp and just simply include a message for ANY reason that states you care about them and their company and that you are interested in continuing a relationship with them and their firm.

If you are having trouble reaching your contact after letters, resumes or cards—try faxes. "Fun Faxes" are a quick way for the contact to interact with you, without having to speak with you directly. You can create a number of different fun faxes in order to reach different client types. Tag your fax with "we miss you," "are you interested?" "where have you been?" Now, create simple check boxes that they can check off and fax back. Such as, "I'm too busy – call me in a week." We are using "this" service, because "we love them," or "We aren't interested right now, but thanks for all your effort."

Just a few quick, efficient ways to get your name out there for little cost. You need to separate yourself from your competitors. Get noticed, take a stand, be creative. Haven't you ever hired someone just because they showed more of an effort and stood out in the crowd of interviews and resumes? Figure it this way, if you aren't willing to try and be different, won't it COST you anyway?

Thrifty selling,
Karen Connor,
Email Karen for full size samples used in this article.