Can Your Company Handle New Sales?

It’s a deceivingly simple question. Can your company handle more sales?

The natural instinct of course is, “yes, sure, of course, absolutely we can handle more sales.”

But can you, really?

As an advertising agency, our job is to promote a company; its brand, product or service, with the following key ideas in mind: drive more people to your store, drive more tra�c to your website, and make the phone ring. These are the “end goals.”

These “end goals” are designed to do one thing. Drive sales. Period. Get new customers, secure new clients and simultaneously develop a pipeline of prospects – so you and your company can continue to make more sales in the future.

Is Your Advertising Driving Your Company into a Blind Sales Curve?

But “what if” your organization really isn’t set up (at least right now anyway) to handle more sales? Let me say that again, what if your company, your people, your processes, your systems are not set up or in place (really) to handle (some/lots) of new sales, and meet the myriad demands the “new business burden” can, and does, place on an organization? That’s a tough question that some people in business simply do not consider. Not thinking the “More Sales” issue through and doing the needed planning for “More Sales”, that’s where your company will head into the “blind curve” and that’s what this piece is about.

Make Sales Today, Create A Pipeline for Tomorrow

“Sales” is revenue and revenue, particularly “new revenue” is the lifeblood of any organization. Doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, what you o�er – product or service, brick or mortar, consulting company on 18th �oor of a building providing a service, working out of your dining room table, or garage, start-up or established entity. You are selling something. End of the day you must develop new customers, new business, new clients, new contracts = new sales.

Is Your Advertising Driving Your Company into a Blind Sales Curve?Is Your Advertising Driving Your Company into a Blind Sales Curve?

Written by: Je� Mustard

A marketing professional who has over

20 years of experience creating great

advertising, and e�ective public relations

campaigns. A writer/producer/director,

broadcast communications executive and

mass-media marketer who has earned

numerous industry awards and recognitions.

AVOID CROSSINGTHE DOUBLE LINE:

Our job as anadvertising agency

is to put mechanismsin place to drivenew business.

The question is,does your companyhave the bandwithand processes in

place to handle thenew business?

That’s it. Make sales today, try and make sales for tomorrow, or next week, next month – (the timeline for a sale is a function of the type of product or service, cost of product or service).

Je� Mustard is the President of the following companies: www.TheBambooAgency.com – a full-service advertising, marketing, Public Relations Company.www.TheRadioProducers.com – a radio commercial writing and production company.www.TheDocumentaryProducers.com – a �lm/video production company.www.FloridaArtBrokers.com – an art brokerage company

An “Agency” Creates the Leads, Your Organization Closes the Sales

As an advertising agency, our job is to create the public mechanisms in the market that help a company attract new business – multi-track approaches to market – print, radio, tv, digital/non-traditional – B2B, B2C, and so on. But attracting new business and the ability to “satisfy the needs and demands of the new business” created are two di�erent things. This corporate phenomenon, or rather perhaps, corporate oversight, has been experienced �rst-hand; the “inability to deliver” on promoted and promised marketing messages has serious consequences, consequences that (can) impact an advertising agency or even your internal marketing department, none of them good. Not to mention the damage to the “brand;” unsatis�ed customers/clients regardless of business type, size, product or service, is a highly undesirable outcome.

Picture for a minute a garden hose, turn on the spigot and as long as there are no crimps in the hose the water �ows freely. But crimp the hose, or worse yet, if there is a hole in it, the pressure drops, the water spews out through the hole, the �ow at the end of the hose trickles to a dribble. Many companies have su�ered this metaphoric experience.

Your marketing department, or your “agency” can turn on the (new consumer/client/prospect) spigot, BUT, if the company is not prepared to handle the incoming �ow of new customer inquiries (regardless of company type, product or service being sold), then the results of that advertising/marketing/public relations success along with the cash and resource investment in the e�ort to engage in such activities, is wasted, not to mention disappointing to all concerned.

So, the question, as posed earlier that is also the premise of this article is, can your organization handle new sales? Can your company (properly, appropriately, e�ciently, e�ectively) handle an in�ux of new prospective business, beginning with the inqui-ry right through to the “close of the sale,” the “signing of the order” and then the “delivery on the goods/product/service(s) sold?”

As an advertising agency we’ve seen companies, small and large, new and established, “desiring new business” and yet, they simply do not have the bandwidth, the capabilities, systems, and processes in place to “handle the leads.” The ability to deliver on your “sales message” is equally as important as �nding and acquiring new business. Without that ability you have not just misspent the money, the e�ort, but lost the opportunity. And, what may be even worse, damaged the positive image of your company as one who delivers on their promise.

What Happens if My Phone Rings, People Come to My Store, They Visit My Website?

If you engage in a truly aggressive, creatively produced and properly executed advertising, marketing and/or public relations campaign you are going to see results; that means, the phone will ring, people will come to your store, you’ll get tra�c to your website, you’ll get inquires. So, the question is, can you or your organization handle this? Can you (properly, appropriately, e�ciently, e�ectively) handle an in�ux of new prospective business, beginning with the inquiry right through to the “close of the sale,” the “signing of the order” and then the “delivery on the goods/product/service(s) sold?”

Are you ready to go around that curve?

As an agency, we’ve done our job when we make the phone ring, deliver the client to your front door or drive the tra�c to your website. Technically our job is done. Once we’ve done that, it’s your job, the businesses’ job, to turn that prospect into a client/cus-tomer/buyer.

So, the next time you are engaged in planning the how and where you are going to market to �nd new customers and prospects, consider devoting an equal amount of time on what would happen if all that money and resources you are spending on advertis-ing does its job. Remember it’s critically important to be able to “deliver on your promise to the consumer,”

All New Business Starts with a Lead, How You Handle that Lead Determines Your Company’s’ Success

All new business starts as a lead. It could be a cold lead, a warm lead or a hot lead, but if you just ran a radio or television commer-cial, can you handle the phone calls? Do you know where the phone calls go to? Do you have roll-over lines, how many? What about that direct mail piece or that direct outbound email – what are you asking/seeking your prospective customer/client to do? Do you want them to “click on a link and get a coupon,” do they need to physically redeem a coupon at a retail location, do you want them to take some action on your website? You must have the systems in place so that all of youradvertising marketing e�orts with a “call to action” seeking, urging, cajoling your prospective customerto do something whether it’s simply lead capture or trying to close a sale, has a happy ending (happyfor the customer and for the company) – converting the advertising generated lead into a sale.

What is Your Company’s Sales Flow Mechanism?

A company’s “sales �ow process and mechanisms” must be in place to handle the in�ux of new prospective customers, regardless of how and where they come to you -- whether it’s by phone, your front door, or your website. Do you have a name/email/phone grab/capture so you can call them,

how about instant live chat on the web? What about “follow up” – (probably singularly the most important aspect of converting your leads into prospects), does your company have a CRM, do you use SalesForce, InfustionSoft or anyother database management software to ensure proper and timely prospect cultivation that leads to closed business?

About the Author:

The President of multiple media companies, Je� Mustard’s organizations apply a unique holistic approach to client projects, providing strategic advisory services on both external marketing as well as corporate response mechanisms to better capitalize on and leverage advertising dollars.

A companyʼs“sales flow process

and mechanisms” must be inplace to handle the influx of newprospective customers, regardless

of how and where theycome to you.

Contact Info: 954 801- 8263 • jeff@thebambooagency.com© 2015. Je� Mustard. All Rights Reserved.

May be reprinted in whole or in part with proper credit attribution.

after all, who wants to drive into a blind curve?