Making the shift from “inbound order taking” to “outbound selling”

Most shops rely 100% on word of mouth and referral business to grow.

Can you build a proactive strategy to go out and find business?

The answer is yes, and it’s easier than it might seem.

I hear it from almost every print shop that I talk to, “We’ve always relied on inbound business and word of mouth or customer referrals. I’d like to go out and find business and proactively build revenue.”

It’s fascinating to me that some shops have built as substantial businesses as they have without actually picking up the phone, or sending targeted email campaigns or simply without even having a strategy in place to drive predictable revenue growth.

This highlights a tremendous opportunity for shops that want to go out and proactively grow.

It’s fairly easy to stand out. Most shops don’t do it now and aren’t going to do it.

If you can create an effective outreach strategy it can have a measurable impact on your revenue.

As business owners we get cold called/emailed every day. Why do you think that is? Because if done well, it works!

Here are 5 best practices to keep in mind once you make the commitment to owning new revenue production for your shop:

1. Leads: Build solid target lists. Create lead lists focused on the markets where you are most profitable
today or where you would like additional revenue to come from. Data is cheap and super accurate today.
As an example, let’s say I wanted to sell into construction companies that have over 100 employees in the midwest.
Through a number of online tools, you can actually download lists of General Managers, Operations Managers,
Marketing Directors, or whatever contact you are hoping to target with emails, phone numbers, physical address etc.

2. Messaging: Create messaging that shows your knowledge of their industry.
Making statements like: “We help other construction companies and I’d like to see if we can help you in the same way.”

3. Outreach: Once you have a solid target list and messaging, now an outreach strategy comes into play.
I’d recommend a creative mix of outreach including; email, phone calling, in person drop offs (if possible) and even LinkedIn/Instagram direct messages.

4. Automation: Outbound outreach is 100% a numbers game. If your message is defined and on point,
the more people you target with effective campaigns, the more meetings you will set. There are a number of email automation tools out there that will allow you to email thousands of contacts a week in a streamlined automated way. This is the only way to do it at scale. You should also consider a CRM (customer relationship management) to help organize your activity history with the leads you’ve created.

5. Measure: Most data shows that it takes 10+ solid touches for people to remember your name, company and what you do. Most businesses stop after 2 or 3. We need to build campaigns that include multiple touches and last for a month or more.

Following these 5 steps will get you on a path to creating a more predictable revenue stream for your shop.

However, the process needs to be put in place. Also, it’s the least fun part of the sales process for most folks.

It can be an arduous, monotonous and rejection filled. But, it works!

If you want to own your growth and drive more revenue you have to create a strategy similar to above and then execute.

 

Happy selling!

Kevin

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