No new business?

?“We just need more new business” – this is a frequent statement from directors/ senior management who think that changing their sales team, employing more reps and doing more marketing with fix everything. They fail to understand the underlying reasons why their sales are not happening.

Here are some of the reasons why sales do not grow, remain static or decrease.

Price – are you competitive? If clients keep telling you that you are twice the price of your competitors, or ask if you have made an error, then you are not in the market and your sales teams will be despondent.

Relationships – keep changing staff means that relationships cannot grow and trust takes time so the more you change the weaker the relationship with your clients.

Quality – once you have an order or contract the quality of your product/work will determine any repeat businesses

Customer service – again pre order and post order the level of service can seriously influence a client. Poor service levels could mean no order or a bad experience can damage your reputation and any chance of being used again.

Lead times – lengthy delivery times or delays in a project can seriously affect your client satisfaction levels in terms of set backs when time is an issue. This may be down to poor supply chain arrangements or late payment meaning goods are not delivered when expected. Labour issues can also affect contracts if you are trying to juggle too few staff over several contracts. The resulting dissatisfaction of several clients can again damage your reputation and result in no new enquires from clients that have been let down.

Toxic environment – this affects staff morale. Unfairness, too much bureaucracy, slow or poor decision making, blame culture, bullying, lack of trust, micro management, uncertainty, etc. An unhappy staff show apathy rather than enthusiasm and can seriously affect sales and service levels.

Knowledge – training, experience, and knowledge can all contribute to a successful sale so having staff that cannot answer clients’ questions, discover problems, find solutions, add value or provide alternatives is not going to help win work. Keep customers informed of any changes in regulations, prices, availability, new products, etc. and become their “go to” company by instilling confidence in that you are a serious player in your market, because if you don’t your competitors will get the jump on you.

Making trading easy – if clients find it easy to do business with your competitors then you need to adapt and change.

Communication – people trade with people in preference to AI. No address or phone number on a website, automated phone systems, constant messaging on the phone telling you to use the website whilst you have an incredibly long wait hoping to speak to an actual person to sort your issue or provide an answer to your specific question which is not addressed on the website. The answering system does not understand what the caller wants and consistently puts people through to the wrong department. This is not saving money it is putting people off trading with you.

Attitude - this is a big factor. Your sales people may be wonderful but if your clients have to deal with a harridan when collecting goods, rude or unhelpful delivery drivers, internal sales/technical people etc who do not phone back with answers, or worse have a horrific experience with bad workmanship, faulty good, etc. and not having a problem resolved satisfactorily can seriously damage the health of a business. Social media means people with grievances can let everyone know if they feel they have been cheated or dealt with unreasonably.

So, management needs to consider several factors if their business is not performing and the culture and infrastructure need to be right before new business can role in.