Four Ways to Build Revenue in a Sagging Economy-Without Spending a Dime!

By Patricia Gardner

Today, many business owners are faced with tight budgets, slumping sales revenues and frustration. They would like to explore opportunities to sell their product or service, but often there is not enough money to hire someone to make those sales. However, there are several ways to take advantage of the sagging economy and to turn potential into profit.

Hire Quality Salespeople on a 100% Commission Basis
There is a new trend in sales that many business owners don't know about. Some of the best salespeople in the business--qualified individuals who have been downsized or laid off--are willing to work on a 100% commission basis. That means no money out of your pocket and a larger sales force. There is an enormous pool of talented sales reps trying to get back to work and who are ready to show an employer what they can do for the company.

One of the best places to look for potential sales hires is www.ExecuNet.com. Protect your interests by making short contracts that you can easily re-evaluate later. Just be sure the recruit signs a non-disclosure agreement and any other products they handle don't interfere with your own.

Cultivate Your Vertical Markets
If your products and services do relatively well in a few isolated sectors, it may be time to broaden your perspective and find out what opportunities are available in other markets. While most small and mid-sized companies do not have the resources to hire a marketing director or a sales manager, the guidance these professionals provide can be an invaluable tool for building revenue. If the budget doesn't support hiring a professional to guide the company's marketing efforts, you can create a vertical market research plan without investing much capital.

The least expensive way to develop a research plan is to hire a part-time employee to conduct an in-depth research assessment of your top three vertical markets. This is a detailed report that gives your sales reps the knowledge they need to develop a sales strategy and successfully execute it. The plan should be about 100 pages long and should include every company in the region, what services they provide, details about their products, who their biggest competitors are, where the company is going in the next few years and contact information for the top managers.

Finding this information will require spending hours on the Internet and an eye for detail. There is no need to pay the full cost of a marketing director or research company. You will have even greater success with a detail-oriented person who possesses excellent research skills. College students and interns are perfect recruits for this project. The information obtained via this project will allow you to develop a sales approach that covers every major corporation in the area and targets previously undiscovered.

Turn the Interview Process into a Valuable Tool
Once the vertical market research is complete, it is time to put the plan into action. While you could pay someone to put together a 90-day action plan, there is a better way to get this done at no cost to you.

Narrow your potential hires down to the top three. Then ask each one to put together a plan detailing what steps they would take over the next 90 days to take advantage of the opportunities the vertical market research plan has identified. Not only is this a terrific way to distinguish between the mediocre and the great, it also provides the basis for your new sales approach. Interview the candidates and use the plan as a talking tool to find out about their style and sales approach. Good salespeople will put together a 90-day action plan with a weekly schedule to give a very detailed idea of what they could accomplish. Many inexperienced sales reps will put too much into a 90-day action plan, showing their inexperience. Or they will neglect to investigate your company with the other reps, managers and the technology team. That is a sign that they simply don't have the will to really tackle your problems on a 100% commission basis.

If you really want to put the potential hires to the test, don't give them much information; see what they can come up with on their own. This is a good indicator of how they will perform after they are hired.

This approach works especially well for companies that have outdated action plans or lack sales training programs altogether. It is an inexpensive way to develop both. Once you have hired one of these sales professionals, they will already be familiar with your products, services and personnel.

Transform Your New Team into "Codebreakers"
Now that you have researched your markets, expanded your opportunities and found qualified salespeople to execute the new approach, it's time to take the sales team to the next level. Many employers understand the value of networking for salespeople, but few take the initiative to really encourage their salespeople to develop relationships. Support your reps in the field and at networking events and you will be richly rewarded.

Networking allows reps to get to the top decision-makers in other companies and not only make sales but develop profitable alliances with them as well. Once you've developed a good working relationship and built trust, your reps will be able to pursue mutually profitable relationships where your reps help a company gain access to your established accounts and they help your reps get into their established accounts. This is one of the fastest ways to both make a sale and give your salespeople the tools they need to be profitable for many years to come.

Here are just two of AMA's sales-related seminars:

• Selling to Major Accounts: A Strategic Approach
  
• Coaching Your Sales Team
  

Author Bio: Patricia Gardner has closed million-dollar sales deals in two sales calls, and has trained others to do it, in a career that spans 30 years. She is president of Maximum Sales, a consulting firm, and has written a new book, Codebreakers: How to Close a Million Dollar Deal in Two Sales Calls, that is designed to help sales professionals unlock the five secrets of strategic sales. Contact her at 215.750.7733 or on the Web at www.maximumsales.com.