Every smart, determined entrepreneur approaches their business opportunities and obligations with real zeal and heightened energy. Some pound the pavement daily to ensure they provide the best in services and to attract new business. These aggressive small business people are highly visible and tend to be results oriented.
But there can be a down side to certain levels and types of aggressive marketing and business development routines that the most energetic of entrepreneurs might forget. The downside manifests itself in certain consequences such as:
- Poor internal organization that is needed to complement the aggressive sales approach
- Insufficient industry knowledge that would complement the sales approach
By way of example, it is meaningless to attract tons of new business, and not have trained, informed, reliable and qualified personnel to process delivery of sales and services to those who decide to become your clients or customers. When things are sluggish internally or the delivery and execution system is unprepared, no amount of aggressiveness or energy in the field will make-up for it.
How about that welcome letter to that new client? How about that promised gift, explanation of how services will be executed, etc in a professional intro kit?
Next is the area of insufficient knowledge. No matter how much pride you generate by the number of miles you place on your car, if you are not stopping to read industry related blogs, news stories, regulatory changes and more affecting you and those you serve, you will eventually take on an outsider status as a result of being uninformed.
As an example I recently visited an adult foster care home in Detroit, Michigan. It is licensed to serve twelve, (12) persons and currently houses nine, (9) residents. Its lowest daily per diem paid is $48.00 and its highest is $71.00. Compare that to 8 or 9 years ago when the reimbursement from the local mental health channel was upward of $200.00 per day for at least half of these current residents.
Now under contract with a different Managed Care Provider Network member agency, with the previous one now out of business, this home like hundreds of others will also be subjected to more frequent resident assessment visits, the potential of having current daily per diems reduced after assessments and ever growing operational expenses from mandatory liability insurance to heating and cooling costs.
Anyone who sells to homes such as this one has to be educated on what is happening inside of the industry. Whether you sell home delivered cleaning supplies and food, insurance or other risk management products, pharmacy services or training, knowing what specific factors are impacting your targeted customer will serve you well. It can help you tailor approaches that consider their circumstances and even develop strategic alliances that keep your products and services moving in conjunction with the services of a compatible entity.
On the opposite side of all this remains that super aggressive, energetic, sell on the first visit person who burns the gasoline, wears out the shoes, but eventually runs into a brick wall.
So be aggressive, but slow down enough to make sure all pieces are in place.
Penny for your thoughts!
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