[Photo by Shayan]
The following is a guest post from Margie Traylor, CEO of Sitewire Marketspace Solutions
Any business person will tell you just how difficult it is to say no to new business. It seems counter intuitive especially in this economy and for anyone trying to achieve their sales goals. But let me tell you from experience, it can be one of the best things you can ever do to grow your business.
How do you say no? How do you know when to say no and why? Why would saying no to customers help grow your business? These are just a few of the questions I’m sure you are asking. You need to have well defined qualifying criteria to assess fit of new opportunities by answering the following questions. Who is your ideal customer? How big are they? How much budget should they have for your product or service? Do they value what you have to offer? Who is the ideal buyer? What industry or geography are they in? What is their persona? What are their points of pain? Are they in a financially viable industry? Where are they in the buying cycle? What is the status of their relationship with the incumbent firm? All of these questions and more need to be answered before you can say no to anyone.
Once you’ve answered those many questions then you are ready to create your target filter. a target filter is the set of guidelines you use to determine whether or not a new opportunity is a good fit for your business. When you are done creating your target filter you should be able to consistently and with discipline know when to say no and why. To test your target filter take a few of your existing ideal customers and test the target filter against their criteria. If they pass 80% of the target filter tests, then you are on the right track, and ready to grow your business. If they fail, you may want to assess whether your target filter criteria are right of if you’ve got an existing customer on your roster that really doesn’t fit anymore.
We learned how to create our target filter when we were introduced to the Whale Hunters methodology for landing big deals. At Sitewire, our target filter has saved us many hours of chasing business and wasting our time on new opportunities that don’t fit. Typically chasing one of these “non-conforming” opportunities results in either us not winning the business, or if we win it, lower than average profits and short-term customer dissatisfaction and turnover. Saying no early to business that doesn’t fit allows us to pursue fewer, higher quality deals and has translated into a 50% close rate for new business. Our customer relationships are much more satisfactory and profitable because they are a good fit from the beginning.
So, if you want to just say no to business that doesn’t fit, develop a strong target filter, apply it consistently and with discipline. Learn to say no to new business and watch your bottom line grow!
More about Margie:
Margie Traylor is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sitewire Marketspace Solutions, LLC. As an online marketing agency in Arizona, Sitewire is focused on customer attraction, conversion and retention through strategic, customized online marketing efforts. These efforts often include search engine marketing, social media consulting, media buying and planning, Web development, Web and advertisement design, and much more.
