How Essential Business Coaching helped Call Us to win ten new clients in six months

The situation

Fran’s telephone answering service, Call Us, was beginning its fourth year of operation.  During the first year clients had numbered 50, which was five more than her target. The second year the numbers grew by only 20% (ten new clients) and she had lost 5% (two clients). During the third year she won just 10% new accounts (five clients) and she was also concerned that none of the accounts after the first year were large; most were start up sole traders.  Fran declared she needed more sales and in fact she had lost her enthusiasm and was discouraged.

Developing the right strategy

We talked about what brings in new sales and she recognized that she had been collapsing sales with a key business area - marketing. Learning that marketing is what positions a business, gives it an image, voice and appeal led us to work on a specialized grid, designed to give her solid measurable information about her most likely customers and clients.  This led to developing the right message, using the best channels, and tracking the success of marketing campaigns to continually improve her efforts.

The outcome

Her work began to pay off with the first campaign and went from strength to strength.  Within six months she had won ten new clients – and they were from the type of business she had targeted. As importantly, she began to develop future campaigns based on the grid and tracking tool.  She had confidence that she could grow her sales in the very direction she had envisioned, and the documentation to prove it.

How would you benefit from coaching?

Answer these questions to understand if you are marketing to the most probable customer, to determine if your marketing strategy is highly effective in reaching your target market.

1. Can you name the product that generated the greatest turnover in the last 12 months? Did that product or service also bring in a high (or the highest) profit margin?

2. What do your customers and clients ‘buy’ from you?

3. What is your most productive channel for marketing to your customers?

4. Do you document what marketing activities generate the greatest number of sales?

5. Is there a market segment that you would like to dominate?