The Importance of Customer Analysis
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Determining Who, What, and How to Sell
Before starting new business development, you must clarify your target. By focusing on customer interests and categorizing them into "those who want it now," "those who can become long-term fans," and "those who offer no benefit as existing customers," you can optimize your time and costs. It is important to analyze why existing customers became fans of your company and develop a sales strategy that defines "who" you are selling to, "what" you are selling, and "how" you are selling it.
Analyzing Competitors and Updating Your Value Proposition
To sell products and services, you must analyze not only your own strengths but also information about your competitors. It is essential to use tools like SWOT analysis, which covers Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, to evaluate your competition. For example, even if you lose to a competitor in terms of location, such as being further from a train station, your company might be preferred by customers for being in a quiet area. By constantly updating your strengths, you can better address customer benefits.
Preparation and Tips for New Business Development
Creating a Sales Process Map
New business development is often won or lost during the preparation phase. Creating a sales process map allows you to visualize your sales strategy. In new business development, if you fail to meet customer expectations during the first visit, the likelihood of a follow-up meeting is low. By mapping out the behavioral thinking that leads a customer to purchase your product or service, you can improve sales efficiency. Sharing these insights across the entire team, rather than just with one sales representative, leads to improvements in the overall sales process.
Setting KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
Set the KPIs necessary for sales representatives to achieve their goals. Work backward from your targets, use your business card management database for analysis, and create lists to acquire new customers. Properly setting KPIs clarifies the actions required of sales professionals and makes it easier to receive feedback from supervisors. uSonar's "PLANSonar" allows you to integrate data from CRM/SFA and business card management, enabling detailed lead management and the creation of optimal approaches.
Implementing the PDCA Cycle
To achieve organizational goals, it is essential to run the PDCA cycle and continuously refine your plans until success is achieved. By repeating "Plan," "Do," "Check," and "Action," sales professionals can grow, and the organization can improve. Setting a plan clarifies how much new business development activity is required, enabling concrete action. Evaluating what did not go well alongside your actions helps build an overall process for business improvement. While gathering materials and other tasks can be demanding for sales professionals, the PDCA cycle is a vital tool for new business development.
New Business Development Methods via Inbound Sales
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6. Website Management
Website management serves as a catalyst for increasing awareness among new customers. Since customers visit the website after searching for solutions to their challenges, their needs are often clearly defined. This increases the likelihood of leading to business negotiations. Strive to build a website that continuously delivers useful information and encourages document requests. Furthermore, even if your content is excellent, it is meaningless if potential customers cannot find it. It is important to implement SEO measures to improve search rankings and increase traffic to your site.
7. SNS Management
SNS management (such as Twitter or Instagram) is characterized by the ease with which users can connect with companies. By increasing the frequency of posts, from company information to advantageous campaign details, you can deepen the psychological connection with potential customers and potentially turn them into 'fans.' Compared to phone or email sales, potential customers engage more proactively, and it is easier to build familiarity than through website management, making it a noteworthy new customer acquisition tool.
8. Registration on Comparison and Ranking Sites
By registering your service on relevant comparison or ranking sites, you can improve brand awareness and drive traffic to your corporate website. While some registrations are free and others are paid, the most important factor is choosing sites that are highly relevant to your service. After listing, you can enhance the effectiveness of new business development through these sites by running campaigns that encourage users to post reviews.
9. Providing White Papers
By distributing white papers on your website or through advertisements, you can convert anonymous visitors into identified prospective customers. White papers delve deeply into specialized topics, providing research results and concrete solutions. Unlike service brochures, they facilitate the resolution of customer challenges by sharing expertise tailored to their needs.
10. Video and YouTube Management
Video content uses both visuals and audio to convey information, providing an experiential medium. It is well-suited for explaining complex topics simply, such as through product demonstrations, user guides, or highly entertaining storytelling. While it makes information easier to convey, the total amount of information that can be delivered is limited, so results depend heavily on your ability to narrow down the theme and optimize the message.
11. Seminar Management
Seminar management is a sales method that involves gathering prospective customers and sharing new expertise to lead to business transactions. By inviting internal or external experts to provide information, you can help potential customers solve their challenges. You may also expect referrals from participants, which could lead to new business development opportunities.
12. Exhibiting at Events and Trade Shows
Unlike seminars, this refers to exhibiting at events hosted by external companies. While it requires a larger budget than seminars, it is characterized by the ability to efficiently connect with a large number of prospective customers. Before exhibiting, ensure that your target audience matches the attributes of the event attendees. If you participate in an event where the target audience does not align, you risk wasting a significant amount of money.
13. Online Advertising
This refers to advertisements placed online, such as on websites. Representative methods include search engine ads, social media ads, display ads, native ads, retargeting ads, and video ads. It is important to choose the optimal advertising method based on your budget and target goals.
14. Offline Advertising
This refers to methods of delivering advertisements without using digital media, represented by television, newspaper, and magazine ads. Other methods include outdoor advertising, radio ads, sponsorships, and placements in flyers or brochures. While these can reach a wide audience, targeting tends to be broad, and direct sales impact is difficult to visualize, making them suitable for large companies with ample funds or companies with high profit margins.
15. Public Relations and Press Releases
Public relations refers to a series of communication activities conducted by a company, such as issuing releases to media personnel, hosting events, and providing information through the company's official website or social media. The purpose of PR is to improve the company's image and strengthen relationships with stakeholders such as customers and investors. Press releases, created to share information that may attract public interest—such as new product launches, important business updates, events, partnerships, and awards—are a representative method of corporate public relations activities.
New Business Development Methods Leveraging Relationships
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16. Agency and Alliance Sales
Agency sales refers to a business model where products or services are sold through a third party (an agency) rather than being sold directly. The company provides its products or services to the agency, and the agency then sells them to customers.
On the other hand, alliance sales refers to a method of forming business partnerships or collaborations to jointly provide products or services to the market. This includes various forms such as joint marketing, product development, sales, and service provision.
17. Referrals by Sales Advisors
Sales advisors are consultants who possess personal networks with board members, executives with decision-making authority, or key internal personnel at large corporations, including publicly traded companies. By leveraging advisors specialized in specific industries, you can be introduced to key decision-makers within your target companies to conduct business meetings.
18. Joining Economic and Industry Associations
Joining economic and industry associations not only enhances brand awareness and credibility but also provides excellent opportunities to connect with other companies in the same or related industries. These associations often include major industry players, and exchanging business cards with them can yield benefits that extend far beyond a single company connection.
19. Referrals from Acquaintances and Industry Peers
This can be considered the most reliable method compared to outbound or inbound initiatives. Since the referrer is already a user of your service and has a high level of understanding, there is a lower risk of missing the target, which often leads to effective business meetings. While this method can be difficult to control, it is important to strive for high usability by maintaining good relationships with existing customers, regularly upgrading services, and widely announcing updates to encourage them to want to refer your services to others.
20. Upselling and Cross-selling to Existing Customers
Strictly speaking, this is not new business development; however, it is far easier to increase revenue from customers with whom you already have a relationship than to acquire new ones. Do not get caught up in the perspective of new business development alone; choose the optimal method to achieve your goal of increasing revenue.
