Prospecting For a Bumper Customer Crop
Prospecting is not a faucet which can be turned on and off with the seasons. Rather, it is in integral part of business strategy. It is no news to you that the RV retail business has a long sales cycle. Customers in the RV market seem to be waiting . . . to retire or to move into a smaller home with larger RV parking space. They are waiting for children to finish college so funds will be available or they are waiting for the stock market to turn around. Without an aggressive prospecting strategy, the weight of the wait can surely take your business down.
How many guests walked thru the showroom doors or on to your lot yesterday? Where did they come from? How did they learn about you? Was it word of mouth, repeat business, referral, shows or advertising? Which shows? What kind of ads – radio, television, billboards? Tracking your traffic is essential in formulating prospecting plans and putting the plans into action.
Sales professionals must prospect every day in order to drive floor traffic. Just showing up does not prime the pump. In the RV retail business, the proverbial phrase “as you sow so shall you reap” is right on the money.
Let’s say you are a farmer with some acres of land. The land really does not care if it grows weeds or if it grows a crop. The fruitfulness of the land is 100% dependent upon the farmer. How is the land going to be turned? Are the rocks going to be removed? Are the rows going to be straight, planted for a machine to harvest, or will they have room for a person to tend? Will the farmer wake early to irrigate the land before the heat of the day dries the soil? In order to have success, the farmer has to work long hours before enjoying the benefits of his labor. Somewhere in is his heart he knows that the land will deliver a crop, usually commensurate with his degree of effort.
Preparing for a Sales Crop
Preparing for a sales crop is really no different. Sales professionals must target the marketing acreage and turn the prospecting soil. Where is the market? Turning the soil can be a simple as introducing a new sales representative to an existing customer whose previous sales professional has retired or moved on. Who are the orphan owners and service customers looking for body shop repairs? Do you have a sales professional assigned to greet service customers in the morning with a hot cup of coffee while the service writers are busy with the coach at the head of the service line?
You can prospect over the Internet with a newsletter (PDF format works best), through tried and true direct mail, and by phone follow up with show time guests.
Put your business card in the envelope when you pay a bill. Leave a business card on the restaurant table with a 20% tip. Everyone likes to have a friend in the business, so let everyone who knows you know what you do. Customers are everywhere you are, to include your own back yard.
Can you recite all the recreational activities your client base likes to do? Do you have semi-monthly, 30-minute educational seminars? That program built Home Depot and REI and it will work for you as well. Become the “go to” place for recreational vehicles and accessories.
If it is winter and most customers are away, invite those still in town to watch “vacation” movies inside the showroom. Those who couldn’t get away are dreaming of spring and what they are going to do when it arrives – like go camping! You can show them movies of places to go and things to see – all of course in their own RV!
Turn your business seasons into prospecting reasons. When the season is high, track your traffic and advertising. When business goes south, turn your space into a taste of the RVing experience.
RV Executive Today, July 2005 issue, p. 38