What if you could grow your sales 80% per year and add only a few clients to your workload? What would that mean to your quota, the money in your wallet and your lifestyle?
Believe it or not, selling that much isn’t as hard as you think. The secret is learning to use a 104-year old tool developed by an Italian economist. (Trust me – it is relevant).
You might have heard of the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule as it is commonly called in this country. Another name for it is the “law of the vital few” and it says that 80% of your results come from 20% of your work.
It means also that 80% of your income comes from 20% of your clients. Imagine what would happen if you just focused enough time and energy to duplicate just those top 20%. The result would be an 80% increase in your income each year with minimal growth in the number of clients you service.
Step 1: To start this process, get out a sheet of paper and make a list of your best (largest, most profitable) clients. For some companies that might be 3 clients, for others it will be 20. Remember, they are your top 20% because they love you. Otherwise, they wouldn’t buy big from you.
Step 2: Now write down everything you know about those clients – where they network, associations they belong to, etc. Make a list of the people they might know that they could connect you with.
Step 3: Finally, decide on one action you could take this week to start moving towards getting a referral from each of those clients. Big clients know other big potential clients and if they love you they will make an introduction. Take one step this week to build enough trust for that referral.
Here is an example…
If you are a golfer, invite one of your top clients out to play golf with you. Set it up this way.
“John, I really enjoy being a business partner with you and I want to help your business grow. Let’s play golf this week. I will invite someone to ride in your cart who can help you and you can invite someone to ride in my cart. Tell me, John, who might be a good potential prospect for you or someone you need to grow?”
Let the client help you find the right person to invite.
Of course, they are going to ask you who could help you and this is your chance to ask them to invite a potential referral for you.
Each week, repeat step 3. It’s that simple. Make this your number one priority each week and you’ll soon find your sales growing by leaps and bounds instead of dribs and drabs.
If you would like to watch a more in-depth training on how to grow using major accounts, check out this video.
Laura Posey is Chief Instigator of Simple Success Plans. You can check out her work and download free sales-building tools at http://simplesuccessplans.com
