All classes of people need our products and services but there are two important considerations to choose the type of people. The first is that as business people, we should be using our time as profitably as possible, means spending our time with clients and prospects who have the greatest needs, the biggest problems and the capacity to pay premiums to solve these problems – targeting business people, professional people, the high income employed and individuals with a large personal asset base. Another reason is that these people in general, the employed people usually have some form of basic security. Anything we do for this client is only in addition to that which is already being provided for him.
The corporate market is different, it is more complex, more difficult. However, face to face, with simple presentations on a plain sheet of paper is the way to tackle this market. The corporate owner is no different to any other prospect. They are easier to deal with because they are used to making business decisions. Bigger does not mean more complicated, it just means bigger. The best way to deal with a large case is to treat it like a small one. Only in our minds is there a difference.
As we build a clientle, prospecting becomes easier. Many of our clients will do business many times. If we develop and service a business client base, some of them will become successful. Just by servicing our small clients as they grow bigger, so we will grow also.
However, real growth only happens when we continue to stretch ourselves. We must always ensure new prospects are being fed into the system, as some clients will be lost, some fail, some are wooed away by poachers of our business, some retire and die – which is what our business is about. New prospects are needed because they challenge us. They keep our minds active and help us stay up to date technically. It can become too easy, too comfortable just servicing our existing clients. We have to introduce a discipline, 25% of the new business from new clients. We lose percentage of those names and bit every appointment is there. The time should be concentrated on the remaining percentage of prospects that will keep the appointment and are willing to listen and whereby two-thirds of whom will be clients.
(Adapted from “It Can Only Get Better – Tony Gordon’s Route to Sale Success”, Chapter 7: Who to See by Tony Gordon)