I have done inside sales for the same telecommunications company for about a decade. When I first started at the company, my job was pretty easy. We had an agreement with a real estate agency that fed us leads to call (both residential and business) and, in addition to that, we did a fair amount of advertising so, even when my outbound calling wasn’t doing so well, I was able to get sales off of people calling us.
However, a couple of years ago, that changed. Not only did the company stop advertising, we decided to drop our residential services and focused solely on commercial customers. This reduced the number of easy leads I had available to call (because we obviously didn’t need the real estate company anymore) and, since our inbound calls all but disappeared, for the first time in years, I had to really work to earn a decent commission check.
Fortunately, right about that time, the company also started giving me business cards (something I never had before) and, not wanting to give up, I decided to take advantage of them and, with a little extra work, I managed to turn them into a way that successfully marketed our company (without any additional cost) and, as a result of that, I have not seen any decline in my sales.
Here are three tricks I would like to share:
First, and most important, give your business card to everyone. I know this is something that sounds a bit too easy. But, there are a lot of marketing opportunities out there that a lot of sales people have missed that I’ve capitalized on. For example, one of our local stores was having a drawing for a prize and, in addition to filling out the slip, I attached my business card to it (you should always carry some paper clips with you by the way). I didn’t win the drawing, but I did get a call from the store. I also leave my card whenever I make appointments or even if someone is just asking me for my phone number (you never know who they might forward your information to).
Second, keep your eyes and ears open and always carry a pen. I got my hair cut a couple weeks ago and, while there, I heard the cashier mention they couldn’t use their credit card machine while they were on the phone because they still had dial up internet. When I paid my bill, I wrote “I can replace that dial up with something better for about the same price” on my business card and included it with my tip. I had a call three days later. I did the same thing with a hotel a few months ago when I noticed they didn’t have high speed internet access for their customers and ended up selling a T-1 line. So, taking the time to pay attention and personalize whenever possible does work.
Third, turn your business card into a refrigerator magnet. This is something I actually started doing when we were still offering residential service and still do even with us just pursuing businesses now. Buy a pack of business-card sized magnets at your local office supply store (I got mine at Staples for a few dollars) and take the time to put some of your business cards on them. Business cards tend to be thrown away but, for some reason, refrigerator magnets stick around forever. Residential customers stick them to their refrigerators, business customers put them on file cabinets and your name and phone number are always available when they need something. However, I don’t recommend carrying them in your wallet since I learned (the hard way) that they can cause some problems with credit cards.
Your business card can be a powerful tool when pursuing new sales; especially if you don’t leave them in your wallet and put them to good use.