Usually they boil down to something simple...capture more customers who are more profitable than our average customer.

Simple at the essence, but how do you find customers who are more profitable?  And how do you decide which prospects you want to target first?

Great questions!  Here are a few additional questions to get the juices flowing.

Questions Every Salesman Should Know the Answer To

• Who are our most profitable customers currently? 

• Why are they more profitable than our other customers?

• Who do these customers compete with currently?

• Who are our competitor's most profitable customers?

• Why do our customers buy our product?

• How many of our customers buy 100% of their purchases from our company?

• Do our customers know every product we have to offer?

• How many of our customers would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?

• What is our current market share?  What is our market share goal for this year?  For next year?

• What would happen if we raised prices by 3%?  By 5%?

• What would happen if we lowered prices by 3%?  By 5%?

• Where can we find a source of good leads for new business?

• What trade shows will we attend this year?  What are our targets for each show?

• What trade associations are we members of, or should be members of?

• How can we leverage our time and contact hundreds or thousands of prospects every week?

• What is the one thing we can do to grow our sales immediately?

Simple questions, but many businesses struggle with the answers.  Usually the difficulty comes in determining the true size of the market, then applying that knowledge to your existing customer base.

Oftentimes, well-intentioned salespeople will overestimate market share for a territory or a particular customer.  Sometimes they completely miss new opportunities because they already sold "everyone" in that town, county, ZIP, or whatever you use to segment a territory.  What those salespeople don't know is that there are 3 new businesses in that territory segment, and 5 of your competitor's customers are dying for a new supplier, and that 3 of the businesses have expanded and now need your product.

Without a map, or a plan...any road will take you where you're going.

Quality sales leads will help you create an effective plan to grow your territories, your sales, and your profitability.

Check out our Products page to get Free Reports that will help you answer many of the questions above.

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