Treat New Business Like You Treat Your Kids or Friends

The best growers of new business all have it in common. They approach new business just like they do reaching out to friends or family. They do it often, daily, when the inspiration strikes. They never, ever wait for the perfect time.

Would you ever say to your child, "I won't pay attention to you today, because there are other things to do, but I do promise in three weeks or so, I'll set aside time to focus on you." Of course you wouldn't. If you're like most of us, you speak, email or text to your kids or spouse or friends throughout the day. That's also the best new business approach.

Reach out to your prospects, your current customers and suppliers daily--text them, email them, call them, etc.

Is there a best time to talk to your child when she needs help? Sure. Now.
Is there a best time to reach out to potential new customer? Sure. Now.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

New is no longer new

If you're a corporation, dealer or supplier, you're hopefully focusing on new business. If not, life is going to be tough if you count on your current clients to maintain their level of business and to be loyal.

Current clients are the focus, but right after them is the new prospect who will ideally become a client in the near future. Your biggest challenge? "I've never done this before."

There is a resounding chorus of "I've never done this before" every time you begin to work with a new client. New client, new industry, new personalities, new technology, etc. We can't let that stop us. If we do, it means we can never serve a new customer.

It is assumed that a new customer will be, well, new. Our job is to help that new client by using all we have, including all our expertise and passion.

If you want to grow, "new" is not a bad word.


Barry LaBov
LaBov and beyond
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

The "nostalgia file"

In the great movie "Glengarry Glenross", one of the characters, a hard-edged salesman, was given a stack of 3X5 cards with customer names. The names and contact info were years old. The salesman looked at the stack and threw them out, calling them the "nostalgia file." He was right, the old names and contacts were of little-to-no value.

Today, there should never be a nostalgia file. Not with LinkedIn, Facebook and all the other technology that connect us.

I spoke with someone recently who told me he had a database of hundreds of contacts from a convention he went to a few years ago. I asked him if he had kept in touch with those contacts, and he said, "no." "Ahh, the nostalgia file," I thought.

I can understand why decades ago there were nostalgia files. Communication was tougher, there were no emails or LinkedIn, people often had no voicemail, even. Few people had cell phones.

But today, all we need to do is sit in front of a computer and tap on the keyboard and we've communicated something to someone. No excuse. No nostalgia files.

Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
www.labov.com

Two Different Responses to Free Ideas

In our business of marketing, it's controversial to provide free ideas or spec work. One side of the argument says it's entrepreneurial to do that; the other side states that if you provide free ideas, you devalue your worth. I think both sides are right - depending on who is receiving those free ideas.

Here are two examples with two different outcomes:

For Company A, we conducted a mini-brand assessment as a way to get to know them and to prescribe what we thought they might need to grow.

We conducted a similar exercise for Company B that included creative concepts, with the intent that we would again, better understand them and show our value - all leading to paid opportunities.

Company A respected and valued our ideas and engaged us in working with them immediately.

Company B liked our ideas but immediately let us know that it would take time before we work with them and that if anything, they'll do a lot of the next steps internally.

Two different outcomes. Our team was excited to work with Company A and was deflated after the session with Company B.

The best conclusion I've come up with is that before considering free work, be completely convinced that the company you're doing it for is the right kind of future partner. If they're looking to take advantage of suppliers, it's best to leave the free work to someone else.

Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
www.labov.com

Before you get too comfortable with the recession...

We're now becoming used to the recession. Things are slow, money is tight. But don't get too comfy. As soon as things pick up, we'll have new challenges.

There will competitors that will be approaching your clients for business and your clients will be excited about the economy turning. They'll be more than interested in giving someone a chance to get some business. It'll make no sense to the loyal supplier that has been waiting out the recession, but it will happen.

It will be time for you to be that supplier that goes to your competitor's clients and asks for a little business. Rust never sleeps, and neither can we.


Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond Marketing Communications
www.labov.com

When the economy grows, is it time to let clients go?

We will be facing an interesting dilemma as the economy turns around. As we are starting to see an increase in new business, we'll be stressed over how we can handle that influx. How many people do we add? Where do we find the right people?

Maybe the right people are already at your company.

Those really good people may be floundering working with customers that are unprofitable, unwilling to be a partner or who are just plain demotivating. Right now, you may be grateful that you have any business with these customers. But as the economy picks up, you won't be.

One option that will be staring us in the face will be: which clients do you let go so you can "trade up?"

I say this with no attitude whatsoever. It is simply a reality that a good business will need to face.

Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
www.labov.com

Second Place - No Endorsements

Phil Mickelson. Rocco Mediate. The Tampa Bay Rays. The Orlando Magic.

All of the above finished in second place in recent competitions. Too bad. But, then again they did alright. All of them make plenty of money, have endorsements, fame, fans, etc.

Let's not confuse this with what we deal with in business competitions.

Let me add it up: finishing first in a competition means you get the business. Finishing second (or third or worse) means you get nothing.

Now, of course, there is always the chance that down the road, the client will change his/her mind and offer you an opportunity, but we have to realize that a mediocre performance in a competition will surely lose. Only a dead-on performance has the chance.

So, before any competition, remember: either do your best or don't do it. There will be no fan club, no endorsements and no fame for being the runner-up.

Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
http://www.labov.com/

New business: Reggae vs. Elvis

I was working on landing a new client and things weren't going as I'd wished, I wanted quicker response internally, more focus, etc. I could see I was getting some looks from our staff telling me to be more like the old reggae song, "Don't worry, be happy."

Why not lay back? I pondered that myself. Then it occurred to me. We had four prospective clients we were in discussions with:

Prospect A has been talking and emailing with me since 2005. Prospect B, since early 2008. Prospect C has played cat and mouse with me for six months; and we have been in a creative brainstorming mode with Prospect D for three months trying to figure out a solution to a huge issue of theirs.

No wonder I was intense about this. The amount of time invested to get to this spot was enormous, yet all that could be thrown away with a few thoughtless or dispassionate moves. And, on the positive side, we were in the position where one person or one smart move could make all the difference in the world and knock out the prospect.

Day-to-day "business as usual" can be like that old reggae song. New business is more like Elvis's song, "It's Now or Never."

New business performance is critical because of the investment and the fact that you can't easily recover from a mistake. So don't make one.

Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
http://www.labov.com/

Unhappy client: familiar refrain

Our agency, LaBov and Beyond Marketing Communications, has never seen such new business activity as we're experiencing today. More existing and potential clients of all sizes are approaching us and engaging us in exciting new conversations. In some cases, we've added them to our roster. Why all the activity?

These prospective clients have all shared the same scenario: They have been working with a capable agency that has become complacent to the point of entitlement. The customer service level is mediocre at best; the work is fair, but hardly inspired. As we shared in an earlier post, these agencies are basically just order-takers.

Order-taking worked a lot better when the economy was robust. But when the amount of business activity declines, that exposes what a supplier is all about: do they just take business dropped in their lap or are they a real partner with clients and continue to serve them and proactively bring new ideas?

It's great when you are approached by prospective clients, but there's another issue to be concerned with: making sure you don't become complacent and entitled with your existing ones at the same time. You'll fall victim to the same refrain.


Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
http://www.labov.com/

Start-Up vs. Hard-Up

I don't think it's my imagination - there are more start-ups, well, starting up right now: green housing, hybrid technology, military programs, training for the unemployed, etc. There are many, many people with ideas. That's exciting.

I was surprised when a start-up met with my company, LaBov & Beyond Marketing Communications, and told us how close it was to unbelievable success and that every supplier it works with does free work so that it could "kick the tires" and see if there was a good fit.

Wow! What a concept:

We're a start-up with unlimited potential. We want you to work for free so we can check out whether you're worthy.

Let's think about that for a second: If this particular start-up do that with every supplier, that means it will get free work for a long time - until it either goes out of business or succeeds. And if it does succeed, who do you think it will turn to? My guess is it won't want to work with the lowly, hard-up suppliers that worked for free - they'll want a sexy, big-time company that never would've have stooped to working for free in the first place.

One word for doing free work for a start-up?

Pass.


Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
http://www.labov.com/

What's so difficult about growing your business?

In theory, it seems really easy to grow business. You go out, meet people, talk to them, they like you and your company, and everything is just perfect. You have a new customer.

But that's exactly what makes it so difficult to do. It doesn't happen that way. True, you do need to connect with a person, have them at least respect you and hopefully like you. And, of course, they have to have a need for your company.

But the problem is you don't know if or when that investment of time and effort will pay off. Indeed, it may never pan out. Or maybe it'll be a bonanza. The problem is that we can't count on it happening - and that's just why the vast majority of people give up.

Want to grow your business? Stop wondering whether you should follow up with that prospect. Stop considering whether it's worth it to send an email or a newspaper clipping or a new idea or a reminder to your prospect. Stop thinking about it, just go ahead and do it.

Growing business is not just a science, it's an art, it's a gamble, it's a crap shoot and it's a commitment. And, boy, does it feel good when it pays off. But you'll never know that unless you do all the things possible to make it happen.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
http://www.labov.com/

Stress is Stress

I have a friend named Felice Dunas - a real smart lady. She's an MD, an expert in Chinese medicine, a nutrition expert and a counselor. Very brilliant. Here's one thing she told me I'll never forget:

Good stress and bad stress have one thing in common. They're are both stresses. They both wear you down.

Why is this important? Because, if you're stressed out over having to deal with a plant shutdown or a lay-off, that's understandable. But if, in addition, you have new opportunities that require you to travel and to stretch to land new clientele at the same, that, too, is stress (even though it's a positive). And it all adds up.

Don't feel guilty, either. It's not wrong if you're feeling beaten up and drained during these times. There's plenty of bad stress and good stress going around. And it all adds up.


Barry LaBov
President, LaBov and Beyond Marketing Communications
www.labov.com

"Well, I left a message"

We need to grow business, it's tough out there. We all know that. That's why we reach out to prospective customers.

Do you really want to grow business? If so, do yourself a favor and analyze where your customers came from and how you got them.

Most will come from referrals, very probably.

Look at the success stories you've had and how long and how often you talked with that person until they became a full fledged customer. Was it after one phone call? Was it within a week or two of meeting them? Probably not. Did they initially return your message? Or did you have to pursue them?

I just met with a Fortune 500 prospect that we may end up working with. I began talking with the gentleman six months ago. We've spoken dozens of times. I've gotten to know him. He's helped guide me on how to break through and get inside their company. By the time we met in-person for the first time just recently, I felt he was an old friend.

If we want to grow business--I mean really want to, the excuse "well, I left a message" is not enough, it will require numerous follow-ups just to have a chance to materialize.