Prep and make ready… Small ball and…

Prep and make ready… And not the sous chef

Here’s a basic sales truth that we tend to forget: Our success selling new business is not particularly proportional to our desire to make the sale. Conversely however, it’s very much related to our degree of preparation.

That begins with doing the basic homework to learn as much as possible about that prospect before we darken their door. If it’s a restaurant, how many seats does it have…Does it serve breakfast, lunch and dinner? What’s the typical check size and what are its menu prices? Roughly what is its’ weekly meal count? Does it serve wine or liquor? Is it white tablecloth operation, or does it offer tabletop dining?

Unless we have at least a good estimate of those kinds of variables, we’re apt to propose an idea that falls short of their interests. Clearly a diner is a lot less concerned about sparkling glassware than a high end bistro. That diner is more likely to be concerned about coffee stained cups, spotted flatware and metal cutlery marks on their dishes.

Yep, preparation can be a bit time consuming. But not nearly as much as blowing what might have been a great prospect call by proposing a dead letter idea that gets us the door instead of an opportunity to gain a new customer.

Next up: Gaining that intelligence.

Small ball and… getting big(er)

We all like home runs. They take a lot of the legwork out of both baseball and growing our businesses. But occasionally we have to hit the singles and doubles that can result in runs scored.

In the case of opening that new account, sometimes the shortest path to success is getting that opening with the sale of your degreaser, or even some lesser volume ancillary item.

That opening is a license to call again and especially to use those visits to make sure that opening sale results in their satisfaction. And while that’s always a good idea, maybe more importantly it’s the chance to look around to see where else might benefit from your expertise.

Maybe we’ll see operational issues in the dishroom that’re resulting in still wet flatware being returned to the dining room, or glassware that’s being damaged by the wrong racks being used – or that they really just need new ones. And those new racks are a nice sale and are yet another step toward the big prize.

And even if it doesn’t do that immediately it’s the perfect opportunity to establish your bonafides – even if that doesn’t include (yet) the machine business.