Coach’s corner: The need to “own it”

Pat Henneberry is vice president of global learning and development at Hearts On Fire. She also is founder of The Jewelry Coach, a sales training community for jewelers. I’ve been in some form of sales for more 30 years. I grew up with a father who was the best salesman I’ve ever met. I like to say I’ve “stood on every side of the counter.”

However, there’s still one thing I come across that is really hard for me to fathom--retail sales professionals who wait for customers to come to them. Outside of waiting for that customer to walk in those doors there’s no “hunting” for customers. I always look at everyone I meet as a customer; not a potential customer, but a current customer.

There’s always something I can offer them. Maybe it’s someone I meet in spin class, at church, a neighbor, someone who friends me on Facebook.

As professional sales people we need to own it. We need to generate our own leads, our own customers.

It’s not up to the owner, manager or even marketing. And even all the great brand marketing and its effectiveness is still only responsible for so much. The real winners in sales, the top pros, are “owning it,” owning their generation of new customers. This isn’t a new reality of selling--it’s just often overlooked.

Here a few tips to get you start “owning it” and generating your own customers.

1) Social. It’s becoming almost impossible to ignore the impact social networks are having on sales. Many introductions are happening via social connections. The reality is sales pros who ignore social networks are not going to scale their new customers are effectively as they could. Think about what you can do to develop a social strategy that will help crush your sales quota.

2) Identifying. Building out a target customer list is consuming and difficult. All you have to do is take a personal approach to prospecting. For example, leverage powerful relationships. People important in your life, your relationships within your personal life. Everyone you know should be buying from you, and they should be your advocates.

3) Coffee. Don’t be afraid to ask that person you have been next to on your spin bike for the past one hour to have coffee and tell them what you do. Don’t be afraid to ask the person you have been