How Do You Get New Customers?

I recently had a discussion with a salesman doing business for over twenty years in the packaging industry. He described his work week of visiting existing customers within his territory. I asked him how he acquired new customers. He told me that his company would on occasion send him the contact information for a new company they wanted him to visit. The company came across these new leads from their advertising and marketing efforts. He said there were not too many of them. I pressed him further for information on how he prospected for new customers and he admitted that he didn’t as his company’s existing customers kept him busy. He was surprised when the company let him go during a cutback as he almost always met his quota. He was convinced that the company released him because he was making too much money and they could bring in someone younger for less money. They had been paying him a high base salary plus commission.


I was not surprised that he was released from employment. He had become complacent and had lost his ‘hunger’ for growing his territory. In a tight economy it takes aggressive, optimistic, high-energy salesmanship to succeed. A company’s existing customers must be kept happy, but new customers are vital to the company’s continued stability. The constant influx of new customers is as important to the strength of a company as taking a daily vitamin is to the health of a person’s body. Prospecting is the key. Although prospecting has been around as long as there have been salespersons, the various means of prospecting have grown with new forms of communication. The ‘winning’ salespersons are the ones who spend their evenings surfing the internet for new companies instead of sitting in front of the TV. One successful salesman confided to us that if the receptionist won’t give him the information he needs, he takes it as a challenge to get that information. He visits the production plants in the early evening talking to the workers as they enter or exit the plant to get the names of the individuals he needs to speak with during regular working hours. This salesman will succeed no matter what the economy does.  Another successful salesman hand delivers a hot pizza at lunch time to the individual he wants to meet.  It almost always either gets him in the door immediately, or gets the person to call him to thank him, thus opening a dialog.  Creativity and determination are the keys to success in today's business climate.


The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at www.neminc.com.