Why waste the month of August cleaning your office? Make the most of your summer by seizing new business opportunities
while your competition plays miniature golf! Most business owners and salespeople assume making prospect calls in August
is pointless because decision makers are on vacation. While it’s true that most people do vacation in August,
I don’t know anyone who goes away for 4 weeks straight! What does this mean for you? It means people are at their
desks, often in good moods and are more likely to pick up their phones to speak with you.
Seize this valuable opportunity and boost your business!
Follow these 7 Key Strategies in August.
1. Add 20 new “A” level prospects to your list and call them. An “A” level prospect is the person you most want
as a new client. He/she buys the right amount, at the right price, in the right time frame. Criteria for an “A” level
prospect can include industry, size of company, department, level of decision-maker, geography as well as issues
and challenges they face. To determine the makeup of your “A” level prospects, look at the makeup of your “A” level
customers. Then, using the criteria, replicate the recipe.
2. Catch up with your current clients and upsell by offering incremental programs and add-on services.
Capture “Sweep-up Dollars” from the “use it or lose it by year end” client budget. One Sales Director in the media
industry contacted one of his clients and said, “We have a really interesting program, and if you have any budget
available for this year, I’d like to discuss the benefits of the program with you.” That simple call resulted in
a $100K sale. That’s why I call it “sweep up dollars”. The money is lying around and you sweep it up!
3. While you’re talking with your current clients, ask for referrals to other departments, divisions, parent
companies, sister companies, and subsidiaries who have a bucket of money to spend on what you have to
sell. Surprisingly, this low lying fruit is often overlooked. Leveraging your relationships to capture all sales
within any one company will quickly increase your earnings as well as solidify your position with your customers.
4. Look through your CRM and make a list of prospect decision-makers you’ve met but the sales have not yet
closed. Projects can come off hold and prospects can misplace your contact information. Make the most of the
time you already invested in developing business. Stay in touch and be top-of-mind so when the dollars are on the
table, you will be there to collect.
5. Look through your pending proposals and identify 3 strategy ideas which will move each proposal closer
to a close. Choose the best one for each and execute!
6. Half-day HOORAY! Make calls after 2pm on the Friday before Labor Day, and you will reach those hard-to-reach
decision-makers without their assistants answering the phone. Office staff usually goes home at 2pm, leaving your
decision-maker at the desk, relaxed and ready for your call! Were you thinking of leaving early that day? So is your
competition.
Prospect Purge. Delete prospects that don’t belong on your list. If they are not “A’s”, “B’s” or “C’s”, they aren’t
worth your valuable time. This is true for referrals, as well. Just because you were given a referral doesn’t mean
you should make contact.
Implementing even a few of these key strategies can lead to a huge payoff this year. It may be tempting to set aside
this article and move on to your next task. Big mistake! Can you really afford to forego this opportunity to develop new business?
Take a moment, decide which strategies you will follow, and set a time on your calendar to make it happen!
Caryn Kopp is the Chief Door Opener® at Kopp Consulting, whose Door Opener® Service helps clients get in the
door for initial meetings with high-level, hard-to-reach prospect decision makers. Caryn’s book, “Biz Dev Done
Right,” co-authored with Carl Gould, is an Amazon best seller. She is also the author of “The Path to The Cash!®
The Words You NEED to Bypass Those Darned Prospect Objections and is a faculty member of Gazelles Growth
Institute. Reach her at www.koppconsultingusa.com.
By Caryn Kopp, Chief Door Opener®
