Friday, January 30, 2009

Prospecting Firms Help Companies Increase Sales

By Stan Field

Sales can continue to increase in a recession. During a time like this, it is important to understand how you can increase sales in a manner which is productive with your business expenditures. This article will talk about why a prospecting firm can bring you more sales even during these tough times.

Prospecting firms offer advantages because their salespeople are comfortable on the phone. Many salespeople struggle on the telephone because they dread telemarketing. Using a prospecting firm will allow your salespeople to be productive doing other activities while the prospecting firm can build a list of prospective new clients for your business.

Using a prospecting company consistently will mean that you have a consistent sales pipeline. One of the biggest struggles for most businesses is that the pipeline is full of prospects.

The tough business climate means that you must respect the use of your advertising dollars even more. Using a prospecting company can allow you to track your return on investment so that you can increase sales but you know what it will cost to get to where you want to be.

Most businesses cut their marketing budget during a recession. If you maintain your marketing budget and allocate money to a prospecting company, you can pick up business since there are fewer competitors out there publicizing their services.

Any recession means that you must be smart with your money and be as resourceful as possible with your marketing dollars. Experimenting with new ideas with no idea of ROI will be frowned upon while a prospecting firm can build your business effectively by asking the firm typically what costs are involved in acquiring new customers.

Businesses and individuals are more cost conscious during a recession and a prospecting firm will understand this. They will have good telemarketers with set scripts who can sell cost conscious individuals and businesses on meeting with you to lower their costs, which can increase your sales.

Few companies are looking for sales over the phone and your business will likely be one of the few prospecting for business over the telephone by using a prospecting company. This builds your sales because other companies are not competing for new prospects who come into your line of sight.

A McGraw-Hill Study showed that companies who maintain or increase marketing and sales expenditures enjoyed a revenue increase of 275% the first year after a recession versus a 19% increase for those who cut back. Using a prospecting firm can allow you to enjoy this growth that will happen once the economy turns around.

If you have struggling salespeople, you may be able to reduce your staff by outsourcing new sales to the prospecting firm. This can allow you to lower costs while increasing sales.

It is hard for any business to simply maintain its current state. Most businesses will either grow or lose business during a recession so you have to ask yourself which side you want to be on. A recession is a great time for you to build sales with fewer competitors knocking on the prospects' doors. - 16738

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