Keep Your Eyes Open

We are surrounded by opportunities wherever we turn. We live in a world where it so easy to be distracted; whether that be from our mobile phones, social lives and company policy, practices and procedures that we forget to look around us and look for the opportunities right in front of our faces.

In a business sense, we have opportunities all around us to either sell our own products or services, to network, or to even refer and recommend others. But through the above mentioned distractions we can so easily lose touch with this and forget to start meaningful sales conversations.

But the fact of the matter is this: for you to succeed in sales, or to succeed in business you need to always keep your eyes open and be ready to sell and develop business relationships wherever you turn.

I recently attended a business expo right here in Leicester. Situated at the King Power Stadium, the Leicester Business Expo is the perfect place for businesses to show off their offerings and gather new business. This year, I attended as a visitor. I had only intended to spend two hours at the expo but this was soon thrown out of the window. Walking into the expo, I was confronted with an opportunity to network and get to know over 100 businesses; both whom were exhibiting and visiting. I made the point of going over to each and every stand, introducing myself, introducing Paragon and to get to know each business I came into contact with. This took much longer than I anticipated, however was very beneficial. By doing so, I was able to network with so many businesses that either potentially has a need for what we offer or knows someone who may have a use for our services. I even visited the stands whom you would ‘assume’ would not need to use Paragon. In doing this, I also developed 4 strong leads whom look like will come on in the near future!

Now, I am not saying I am the perfect sales person but when I was looking around the expo, I saw so many other business owners just nitpicking the stands they wanted to go to. They would walk on by certain stands without even a smile or a small nod. Perhaps only stopping to take a free pen, or to chuck their business card into a bowl in the hope of winning a bottle of champagne.

As a business owner or a sales professional, you should never assume someone will never want your services or products. Sure, at that very moment in time they may not need you. However, what happens in a years time when they do need what it is you offer. You will only have a chance of making that sale if you become known and if you work hard to network and develop sales relationships. You have to be in it, to win it – or so they say.

So this is the key take away point from this post; you are surrounded by opportunity no matter where you turn. The person behind you in line to buy their morning coffee could be a potential customer. Your child’s teachers wife could be a potential customer. The person coming round to fix the guttering may know someone whom could use what it is you sell. If you aren’t willing to keep your eyes open for these opportunities then you will always be one step behind.

So take this into account. What can you do differently in your day to day life to look out for more sales opportunities. You may be surprised as to what ideas you come up with!