Cultivating New Business - Reap What You Sow!
I enjoy working in my yard - it’s peaceful and I can forget about the issues of the day, week, etc. After a rather cold winter, my lawn suffered damage along the street. I guess too much snow, ice and salt build-up. So, the other day, I grabbed my handy-dandy hand tiller and really worked the soil where all the bare spots in the lawn were. Then I threw grass seed down, tilled it in well so none would wash away, covered it all with hay and then watered it thoroughly. Fortunately, the spring rains kept the soil wet for the next week or so. In about 10 days, the new grass appeared - and it came up strong and dense. I have to tell you that tilling the ground for about 2 hours really took a toll on me. It was hard work that I was not used to. I could have easily thrown the seed on the top of the soil, but, I know that I would not have gotten the same results. And, I would likely have to re-work the ground again and again to get equal results.
So, what’s the point of this story? It’s a rather old cliche, but, you do reap what you sow. This is no different in generating new business. You can throw a few bucks at marketing or make a few sales calls hoping for the best, or you can be deliberate and systematic with your efforts and get superior results. All too often, I see companies struggle with generating new business. And, in most cases, it’s because they do not have a system to “sow, nurture and reap” new clients. In the B2B world, most sales have a longer sales cycle. If there’s no system in place to “water the field” then the company won’t have much of a chance to reap a good harvest. They’ll miss many opportunities. This is why we do what we do - helping businesses put in place systems to nurture prospects and customers. Such systems can dramatically improve the productivity of the sales team and ensure consistent follow-up over time. Generating new business is hard work. So, how does you lawn look?
