Christchurch is still a fairly a traditional business market meaning meet and greet getting out and networking remains very important.
Networking groups are numerous with people meeting and discussing their business and driving sales. Although not everyone likes this type of thing, if the business is the right fit then its worth being involved.

Although its not like the old days when it matter which school you attended or who you know. However a lot of people can be very loyal so if you offer good pricing , quality product or service then custumer retention is possible.

2018 started seeing some businesses experiencing a downturn in their workloads or pipelines. Which to some industry sectors such as supporting trades or suppliers to the construction area was a new event given the growth experienced over the last seven years.
A lot of business operators may have felt they had no need to drive sales or to look for new business as managing their work volume already took a large amount of effort and time.

So now its slowing what do we do?

As some will say “Sales fixes everything” with this in mind how do we increase sales.
There are hundreds of books written on the subject and plenty of seminars or pod casts available to hear all the advice you need. Before you do this though we need to keep in mind a pipeline can take time to fill. With a lot of indicators pointing to the door you knock on today may open after two or three months. So whilst considering how you will learn all there is to know about sales we should consider doing something now first to help get that ball rolling.

Where to start always pays to go with the basics tried and true because they work.

• Someone in the team needs to start calling the database as it can yield gold ! do this today and everyday set a target of the number of calls to be made and review weekly.
• Follow up on old quotes at the least it’s a touch point this is easy to do and can result in new work.
• Email your database let them know your out there and what you have been up to it’s another touch and if done correctly will usually return dividends.
• Door knocking /introduction calls have someone walk the pavements don’t sell just drop a card off pick up a card tell them what you do and move on anyone can do this and if done right can yield two out of ten for quote requests.
• If you have a sales team even one sales person set targets and hold weekly sales meetings most people like to have goals and sales people always need a little attention.
• Find a mentor if you dont know anyone suitable try Business Mentors its a Govt funded organisation filled with good volunteers willing and ready to help.