Sales companies have found it very difficult to find a good specialist with the necessary skills, and even more difficult to retain and motivate him to continue work.

After analyzing the situation with the selection, we identified several points that should be taken into account before starting a campaign to find sales specialists (whether it be an account manager or an experienced regional).

1. Position of the company in the market. When the last crisis hit, many rushed to look for salespeople with development functions (territories, clients, etc.). In other words, they hoped to level the tense situation at the expense of talented employees. In fact, it is worth paying attention to external conditions and circumstances (economic and political situation, demand for a product or service, competitiveness, etc.). This task lies with the founders, directors, financiers and analysts.

What is it for : knowing about the state of the organization will help you quickly adapt to changes and choose the most productive solution (it is quite possible that the company will come to the conclusion about hiring a good development manager, but this will already be a deliberate step).

2. State of business processes. Imagine the process of making a sale in your company. Where does it start (for example, by searching for a potential client in the telephone directory) and how does it end (accompanying the client after the purchase - consultation or technical support). If the process is quite wide, it is better to paint it or depict it in the form of a diagram / outline, where you indicate all the participants in the transaction, remembering all the details. When you have finished describing the process, think about how long it takes.

What is it for : firstly, you will once again look and evaluate how sales are going in your company. Secondly, you will be able to see which departments and / or employees are involved in this process (the correct possession of this information and its interpretation, with the right efforts, can also help in motivating staff, both sales and back office). Thirdly, it will be easier for you to bring a new employee up to date (you will have visual material for training, etc.).

3. Client base. No matter how old your company is, whether you're a startup, or entering new territory, you need to take care of your potential customers. At the very least, it is foolish to hope that you can easily hire a great salesperson with your own full-fledged client base (the question is - why would he need you if he has many buyers and developed negotiating skills?). So, before starting the search for a specialist, you should pay attention to the formation of a list of clients (whether it is buying a database with addresses and phone numbers of potential customers, a well-publicized company brand or something else).

What is it for : always remember that there are many offers for salespeople in the labor market, and some may be much more interesting than yours. If, when communicating with a recruiter, it turns out that there are no clients (and the product does not seem particularly promising), most likely, the company will be refused or “the applicant did not come through”. The presence of a client base will help to establish the sales process, and the new employee will quickly get used to it, enjoying the work.

4. Company brand. Have you read reviews about your organization? Is she famous? At least in the region where you live? Or among the professional community for which the product / service is designed? What are your clients saying? What do former and current employees say about you? If you have clear answers or if you are looking for information on the Internet - great! I think those who are familiar with marketing and sales trends know that today the image of the company, its position and good reviews are of great importance. If you know how to “deliciously” serve potential candidates for the position of a salesperson, then he will be able to easily increase the company's profits.

See if the organization has a good website? Is the information presented on it legible? Doesn't the site give you a 2000s hello? If your site is decent enough, ask your IT person to add a career section where you can post open jobs and internships. If this is not possible, indicate the e-mail of the HR department in your contacts - so the interested candidate will be able to send you his resume (and this will at least indicate his motivation to work for you!).

What is it for : By taking care of the brand, you kill several birds with one stone: increase customer loyalty, attract applicants, maintain a good relationship with existing employees, and also strengthen your position in your market.

5. Company product. Before talking to candidates for an open position, think about what is interesting about your product? How does it differ and outperform its competitors? What is it about him that makes you believe in his success? Why is it needed?

What is it for : as already mentioned, there are a lot of offers for candidates, so even if your company has not yet managed to enter a wide market, you can captivate the applicant with an interesting product.

6. Sales channels. What do your employees use to close a deal? Cold / warm calls, commercial offers, all kinds of mailings, participation in exhibitions and conferences, Internet channels, etc.? Analyze whether your company has remained in the last century, does it use different sales channels for products? Very often we are approached by companies that are looking for employees only for cold sales. Remember yourself - how often are you ready to listen to a stranger trying to sell you something, whether for work or for personal use? Maybe it's time to connect the Internet for sales?

What is it for : firstly, you keep up with the times (let me remind you that calls move to the background, messengers come first). Secondly, you support the company's brand - you can not only sell, but also communicate with customers, increase their loyalty, and also attract new ones. Thirdly, you motivate the sales people themselves. Few people are able to sit on the phone and make robotic calls to customers, where every second person is not ready to listen and hangs up.

7. Compensation to a specialist. Before posting a job, think about salary and bonuses. Separately write down the costs of fuel, mobile communications and car depreciation, if necessary. Good luck to those who believe that a salary is not needed for a good salesperson. For those who are ready to pay the minimum wage, I want to say that the costs modern man often exceed these amounts and not a single self-respecting specialist will go for such a salary (I think everyone understands that sales do not start from the first month if the product is rather complex or the client base has not been developed). The salary part should not only be higher than the officially recognized subsistence level (which covers only monthly expenses), but also be enough to live on. Some, when arguing the importance of salary, express fears that employees will sit only on a bare salary, not trying to increase sales. Here it already depends on the selection of personnel. Good salespeople are almost immediately visible - these are people who are not satisfied with what they are initially offered, they strive for more. They are interested in the volume of sales, profit and development plans of the company. Well, there is a lot about the evaluation of applicants for the position of sales manager, we will not talk about it here.

You should also immediately think about the bonus part. What interest will be paid, how much will it come out in monetary terms? How will it be done - monthly or quarterly? Many start from the plan, before voicing this condition to candidates, think about whether it is really set? Are expectations too high?

What is it for : the applicant immediately assesses his capabilities, the prospects of the company, his budget. You, in turn, get a person who is concerned not only with enrichment, but also with the profit of the organization (if a person knows how and where his money comes from, he will try much harder).

These aspects are very important in preparation for the search for sales managers.

Advice from an Expert - Job and Career Consultant

Related photo

The salary of a sales manager depends on his diplomatic qualities and ability to find new customers. Sometimes even an experienced "salesperson" has difficulty finding new customers. Just follow these simple step by step tips and you will be on the right track in your work and career.

What you need to have– analysis of the market of advertisers and their interest in advertising;
- analysis of the work of competitors over the past few months;
- data on young companies that entered the market in the last year.

Quick step by step guide

So let's take a look at the steps you need to take.

Step - 1
Research the market for potential advertisers who may be interested in advertising. Often, managers do not sufficiently explore the industry in which they work, due to which enterprises that have a small turnover are ignored. But as experience shows, it is the sale of the most budgetary advertising packages that brings up to half of the profits of each advertising enterprise. Next, move on to the next step of the recommendation.

Step - 2
Take advantage of the client base of your colleagues in the event that the company employs a staff of sales managers. This method allows you to exchange clients with an employee who, for unknown reasons, refuse to make contact. In the advertising business, the impression the manager made on the potential advertiser often plays an important role. Most often, personal hostility, unpleasant associations with the image of the manager or a failed acquaintance play a decisive role. The transfer of a potential client will be useful not only for the manager, but also for the enterprise as a whole. Thus, the commercial department will demonstrate loyalty and interest in the advertiser. Next, move on to the next step of the recommendation.

Step - 3
Conduct competitor analysis if you do not conduct such monitoring on a monthly basis. Write down the names of all new advertisers, as well as those who refused to cooperate with your company, preferring a competitive organization to it. Suggest what forced the advertiser to refuse your offer, and what benefits he is attracted from competitors. If you have come to the conclusion that the main problem does not depend on your work: poor quality of printing and small circulation (for printing advertising publications) or low traffic in the area where banners are located (for outdoor advertising companies), then bring this problem to the meeting or report the results of the analysis to the immediate supervisor.
We hope the answer to the question - How to search for clients for a sales manager - contained useful information for you. Good luck in your work and career! To find the answer to your question, use the form -

How to find new clients for a sales manager? This question often arises for both beginners and experienced managers who are mastering a new region or territory.

Potential client portrait

Before you start looking for clients, you need to draw up a portrait of interesting business partners. Assess the most promising industries, identify market leaders by region and country, study the market situation, and identify weaknesses. This preparatory work helps answer the following questions:

• Who are the clients?
• Where to look for clients for a sales manager geographically?
• What is the situation in the industry as a whole?
• What is the client interested in?
• How does he currently solve the problems, the solutions of which are supposed to be proposed?
• Which companies are competing suppliers?

Having collected all the necessary information, you can draw up a portrait of a potential client who needs or may be interested in the product / service that the sales manager introduces to the market.

After the portrait of the client is defined, you can proceed directly to the search for an answer to the question of how to search for clients for a sales manager.

The easiest method to understand how to approach a sales manager is to review the existing customer base, study the interaction history and successful sales, volumes and features of the offer. Based on this data, it is possible to find companies that are similar in industry, volumes and potential purchases, and get in touch with them with an offer based on the successful experience of completed projects. This makes it possible to conclude quick deals and increase the client base.

The second successful and effective way to find new customers is to get recommendations from existing customers with whom relationships have been established and communication has been built.

There are several ways to find clients for a sales manager using recommendations:

A personal meeting. You can ask for recommendations and contacts of potential customers who need or might benefit from the proposed solution at a personal meeting with regular customers. People love to give advice and help, while feeling like experts. With the right approach, this method can be very effective.

Phone call. By asking an existing client for a preliminary call to a potential partner of interest, with a high degree of probability, you can count on a meeting and subsequent sale. The call of the recommender increases the credibility and becomes a good springboard for successful communication.

Visiting exhibitions and thematic events

An effective way to find customers is to visit industry exhibitions and thematic events. How to search for clients for a sales manager at exhibitions and public events? The goal may be to get to know the company, establish personal contact with employees of the organization of interest, arrange a personal meeting. It is very important to analyze the information received and work out possible "warm" contacts as soon as possible, in hot pursuit. You should write a letter confirming the acquaintance. In the letter, it is worth recalling the place of communication, perhaps quoting the words of the interlocutor, clarifying intentions to continue the acquaintance and emphasizing the possibilities of mutually beneficial cooperation.

Attending themed events is a good opportunity for networking. Acquaintance with the right people, building communication, exchanging opinions is the way to a sale. This is where the ability to make the right impression, be open to dialogue and demonstrate an expert position in the topic that the sales manager represents will come in handy. You should avoid sales "on the forehead", obsession and manifestation of need. Self-esteem, coupled with good communication skills and good product knowledge, is the key to successful commercial communication. It is important to be sincerely interested in the state of affairs of new acquaintances, to identify or form needs, to ask the right questions.

Cold calls

A proven way to find new customers is to cold call companies of interest that fit the description of the client profile.

How to find clients for a sales manager using cold calls? The cold call algorithm might look like this:

• find a decision maker on the issue;
• call;
• clarify information, ask questions, obtain the necessary data;
• sell the opportunity and idea of ​​cooperation;
• make an appointment;
• prepare a preliminary commercial offer based on the data received during the telephone conversation.

Many companies have implemented consistent telephone sales scripts. If the rules of the company allow, then it is necessary to give the calls the right emotional connotation, disposing the interlocutors to communication and partnership.

In work on cold calls, such qualities as punctuality, the ability to hear the interlocutor, and ask questions are important. It is necessary to clearly understand the purpose of the call: acquaintance, appointment of a meeting, sending preliminary information by fax or e-mail.

Cold calling conversions depend on the ability to overcome barriers, deal with customer objections, and speak the language of benefit. Competent speech, a pleasant voice, a pace of communication convenient for the interlocutor will help build a dialogue and find a new client.

Search for clients on the Internet

How to search for clients for a sales manager on the Internet, how effective is it?

Searching for potential customers on the Internet can be done in several ways:

• Active participation in specialized forums with the placement of information about the product / service and demonstration of an expert position.
• Placement of information about the company in social networks.
• Using bulletin boards and thematic aggregators.

Social media

Using social networks to find customers is by far one of the most effective and reliable ways to find customers on the Internet. Depending on the specifics of the business and the target audience, a social network is selected. Consider the target audience on the example of the Facebook network. The audience is young people (18-24) and the middle age group (24-45+), aimed at establishing business contacts and searching for information for self-development.

This is where you get to meet new clients most of the time. Find people of interest allows advanced search. Facilitates the task of the fact that people indicate the place of work.

Many large companies create official pages where you can get acquainted with the specifics of the company, employees, problems and news. Social networks are a source of information for analysis, search the right people and establishing communications for further sales in a segment that is interesting for business.

Forums and bulletin boards

Studying and active participation in specialized Internet forums helps to analyze the work of competitors and add really important advantages for customers to your unique commercial offer. As a rule, on such resources, customers and suppliers share industry news, opinions about products and services, and discuss pressing issues. In addition to new acquaintances and necessary contacts, here you can actively promote your company, taking into account feedback from other suppliers, emphasizing the benefits of your offer and product / service.

Bulletin boards in the Internet space are paid and free. They differ in territorial coverage and sectoral direction. By creating a small selling offer with contact details, you can provide passive lead generation without raising additional funds. The sales manager can specify his contact phone number and receive requests directly, ensuring that he fulfills the plan.

Active search for customers is the number one task for most companies interested in a constant influx of new customers and increased sales.

What customer acquisition methods are currently the most effective? How and where to look for clients? How to speed up and facilitate the search, and most importantly, make it really effective?

Three Ways to Actively Find Clients

Today, companies use different methods to find new customers. As an example, here are three of the most common ways to attract potential customers.

All clients at a glance.
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2. Attracting prospective clients based on recommendations given by current clients. In the search for new customers, do not forget about the existing ones. The so-called "word of mouth" works great. As a rule, a client who is satisfied with the transaction will certainly recommend the company's services or products to his friends, relatives, and business partners.

Put search on stream

Today, the traditional ways of finding customers, based on the constant waste of time traveling, distributing informational materials and cold calls, are gradually fading into the background. Currently, automated systems for finding customers are receiving more and more attention.

An example is web technologies. Having created its representation in the network in the form of a business card site, a corporate resource, a promo site or an online store, a company can search for customers in the wilds of the World Wide Web. If the resource is made with high quality, filled with relevant and useful information, - new consumers will not keep themselves waiting long. However, it will also be necessary to regularly invest in the promotion and increase in the popularity of the created resource in order to ensure its full functioning.

Successful search of clients depends on many factors. It matters how your offer is unique, original, and most importantly relevant. If everything is in order, customers will appear immediately, but if the competition is high, you will have to turn on your imagination, show ingenuity and a creative approach to solving the issue. Employees of the company also play an important role in actively attracting customers. The effectiveness of the search largely depends on how effectively they communicate with potential buyers and how responsibly they approach their duties.

You have found clients. What's next?

The long-awaited moment has come: the client is found, time is not wasted. But what to do next, how to develop relationships, communicate correctly and establish long-term cooperation? A difficult question, because it is difficult to find a client, but you can lose it quickly and easily.

It is important to show the importance of the client for the company, however, everything needs a measure. Feeling that the company is holding on to the client, he can start using it. Provide support and assistance to the client when he really needs you. This will show the quality of service and the high level of professionalism of the company, strengthen the client's confidence in the correctness of his choice.

Finally, the main thing is that in no case do not violate your obligations, provide the client with a high level of service throughout the entire period of cooperation, which will be the best indicator of your competence, openness and decency, the desire to conduct business cleanly and without risks.

No matter how successful any company is, and how long it stays on the market, sooner or later, the question of how to expand or update the existing customer base will definitely become relevant for it. After all, the needs of buyers change daily, either increasing or decreasing the demand for products of one category or another. Therefore, in order for the company to be constantly in a profitable state, from time to time, it will need to search for new customers. Well, how to do it most effectively, let's find out later in the article.

Search for new clients - work with the client base

Any company, even a recently launched one, must have a client base, which stores the data of each client who has made at least one transaction with it.

Usually, this entire list of clients is conditionally divided into three categories:

• active customers (giving the company about 80% of the total monthly sales);
• passive clients (performing the remaining 20% ​​of transactions);
• customers who do not work with the company (consumers who made one or two transactions and did not make any other purchases from the company).

So, let's consider each category separately. As for active clients, for the most part, the future of any company completely depends on them, since they are the main source of its income. Based on this, we can conclude that the lower the percentage of active buyers of the company, the greater its chances of becoming bankrupt in the near future.

Passive clients, in turn, are not of particular importance for the company, however, they consistently make various transactions with it, thereby showing their interest. Therefore, before spending time searching for new consumers, the company needs to process the passive category of customers to the maximum, from its own base.

Well, in order to perform such a manipulation, for starters, you should carefully study the interests and needs of each passive consumer. Next, based on the information received, offer your customers any related or similar products in order to force them to spend a few more money than they originally planned.

Also, for the passive category of customers, you can arrange timely promotions and provide various profitable offers. As a rule, such steps to meet customers will definitely have a positive impact on the company's sales, thereby raising the percentage of its active customers.

Well, as for the last category, it also needs to be carefully processed. To do this, ask why each of the clients stopped making any transactions with the company. If the reason depends precisely on the work of the company, and not on the whims of the consumer, then do everything possible in order to correct the situation. Thus, you will be able to return some of the customers.

So, having made a complete reorganization of the existing customer base, the company will be able to increase its monthly sales, on average, by 20 - 30%. However, if there are not so many consumers in the database, then such growth will not be particularly noticeable. Then, the company will need to consider more radical methods to increase profitability.

Search for clients via the Internet

Having considered the option of how to return some part of your client base to active transactions, it's time to find out how the search for new clients is carried out. In general, today there are quite a few different ways, allowing to expand the client base, however, unfortunately, not all of these methods are effective enough.

Let's start with the most common way - searching for potential consumers on the Internet.

In general, there are only two options for finding customers, through the World Wide Web:

• paid (implies a significant expansion of the client base, for the shortest possible time, but for a certain amount);
• free (expansion of the client base, due to the time spent on independent search).

In the first case, it is quite possible to use the services of social networks (choose only well-known social networks, such as: Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Indeed, today it is very difficult to find a person who would not use them, which means that you can easily find an audience among them for your company.

Having decided on the social network in which you will conduct searches, proceed to the next stage - the selection of the platform. In all known social networks, there are different publics and groups that bring together users with the same interests. So, you will need to find exactly those groups that are suitable for the services or products of your company. Also, make sure that in the group you have chosen, there are as many people as possible.

Well, the last step is to agree with the administration of the group to place your advertising message, with the contact details of your company, on their main page. As practice shows, this method allows you to attract a lot of new, and, importantly, active clients.

Also, you can search for new customers on the Internet, on special thematic sites. This method, of course, will be somewhat cheaper than the option with social networks, but at the same time, it will also be less effective.

Well, as for the free search for clients through the World Wide Web, it also consists in advertising your company, both on social networks and on special sites. The only difference is that the site or group in the social. networks, you will have to create and promote yourself, which can take a very long time.

Search for clients by distributing flyers and booklets

One of the most proven ways to find customers, which is often used by firms and companies that have just started their activities, is the distribution of booklets or business cards with advertising. According to statistics, this is no less effective investment than advertising a company on a social network, although it is considered quite ancient.

In order to search for new customers by giving them leaflets and booklets advertising products or services from your company, you will need:

• staff (at least 3 people) who will distribute leaflets in crowded places. Usually, students are hired for such work, and as a rule - informally. This allows you to save money for the customer, on salaries, and paperwork;
• booklets and flyers. First, before you print such an advertisement, it should be well designed, adding photos and information about the company to the booklet. Further, it is necessary to print booklets and leaflets, at least in quantities of 1000 pieces, since not all people will take advertising for the specific purpose of making a deal on it;
• permission from the relevant persons (in case leaflets will be distributed on the territory of private establishments, such as: shopping and entertainment centers, restaurants, cafes, or even markets).

Based on this, one can understand that finding and attracting new customers in this way is a very expensive pleasure. But, as practice shows, the invested capital can quickly justify itself.

Finding clients using cold calling

Perhaps every private entrepreneur, puzzled by the expansion of the client base, at least once heard about such a thing as: cold calls. But why is this method so popular, and what is its essence?

Cold calls are calls on behalf of your company, which are carried out by your employees (mainly managers), in order to attract customers who are not yet aware of your products or services. “Where do these customers come from?” - you ask. The answer is simple: there is a special program on the Internet that allows you to dial numbers that appear at least once as a contact number on any site. That is, by and large, calls will be made to absolutely unknown people who have never dealt with your company. And as a result, such a call for them will be very unexpected.

So, many IPs ask the same question: how effective is this method? The answer to it, as a rule, cannot be unambiguous. After all, the method of finding customers with a cold call depends entirely on its correct use technique.

Therefore, if you, nevertheless, decide to search for new customers through cold calls, then for a start, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the correct tactics for their use. So, first of all, when making calls to strangers, do not set yourself the goal of immediately selling a product or providing a service. In this situation, your task is to advertise the company and try to get in touch with a future potential client.

During a conversation, in no case do not behave too intrusively. That is, more in simple terms, if the client refuses this or that offer, then he no longer needs to be reminded of it. Also, formulate the thought clearly, and do not stutter, as this will greatly repel the client.

In general, before starting any call, it is recommended to prepare in advance by sketching on a piece of paper rough plan conversation: what to talk about, what features of the company to mention, what promotions to offer, etc. In addition to the plan, try to make an additional list of questions that the interlocutor will most likely be interested in, well, try to answer them in advance.

However, there is one “but” in this method - even with a seemingly successful transaction, there is no guarantee that the product or service will be sold 100%. Therefore, "cold calls" must be made as much as possible in one day. Well, since it will cost a good investment when hiring managers for such calls, you can try to save money by installing a special program that makes automatic dialing. Of course, the program will not be free, but still, it will be cheaper than the staff, even from 3 or 4 employees.

By the way, it should also be mentioned that this technique of recruiting new customers is not suitable for all companies.

Usually, "cold calls" are used by firms selling the following products:

• programs for personal computers and laptops;
• furniture (office and home);
• household appliances (refrigerators, washing machines, TVs, etc.);
• highly specialized goods such as (printers, copiers, etc.);
• essential goods (stationery, household chemicals, etc.).

Sales through cold calls will be especially effective if any of the above categories is offered on a promotional basis.

So we have considered several options for how to search for new customers, effective search methods that are popular today, and the expected results. However, if you pay attention, you can understand that all these methods do not intersect with each other at all, which means that they can easily be used simultaneously.

Of course, the choice of method depends entirely on your desire, and financial situation, since, by and large, they all require some kind of cost. But, if you use all of the above methods at the same time, then they can quickly pay for themselves.

The only thing that doubts may be about the effectiveness of the method of "cold calls". Indeed, in order to successfully complete transactions in this way, at least minimal experience is needed. Or, otherwise, it is fashionable to use the services of hired managers. But then, you will spend a large amount of money on their official employment and registration, providing equipment, and wages.

Well, as for the other two options, when the search for new customers is carried out via the Internet, or with the help of booklets, they will work flawlessly, in any case. Therefore, with a limited budget, it is recommended not to take risks and use only them.

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