Your sales problem is probably not a sales problem.
Three very different failures produce the same symptom, which is a slow month. Fixing the wrong one costs you the quarter.
A lead problem means not enough of the right people know you exist. A follow up problem means they knew, they asked, and nobody called them back inside a day. A pricing problem means they called, they liked you, and the number scared them off, or worse, the number was too low and you won work that loses money. From the owner's chair, all three feel like “sales is down.”
What I do here
Map how a lead actually travels through your business, from first contact to signed. Find where they stop.
Look at what you charge against what the work costs you, job by job.
Rewrite the offer so the value is obvious before the price shows up.
Set up the follow up so it happens without you remembering.
I spent years building and running client facing teams, coaching account managers and virtual CIOs against retention and expansion targets, and turning one off engagements into recurring programs. I have been the person accountable for the number.
This is one of three ways I fix what the audit finds. If you have not run the audit, start there, because I have been wrong about which of the three problems it is, and so has every owner who told me before I looked.
Questions owners ask
How do I know if I have a lead problem or a follow up problem?
You mostly cannot tell from the inside, which is the honest answer. A lead problem means the phone is too quiet. A follow up problem means it rang and nobody called back inside a day. I trace real leads through your business and show you where they actually stopped.
Why hire a consultant instead of a marketing agency?
An agency sells you more marketing, because that is what an agency has on the shelf. I do not sell the fix, so I have no reason to find the problem that matches my product. Sometimes the answer is more marketing. Often it is not.
Do you work with trades and home service companies?
Yes, and they are some of my favorite work. Contractors, installers, and service shops across Suffolk County have the same three sales problems as everyone else. They just have less patience for consultant talk, which suits me fine.
What does sales consulting cost?
A fixed fee, quoted after a free forty five minute conversation, once I know the size of what I am looking at. The number does not move unless the scope does, and scope does not change without you saying so.
The other two arms
Leadership Training
If it cannot run without you, you do not own a business. You own a job.
Leadership Training