When does a house account become a new lead?

Working in the trade publication industry targeted at the construction industry you always come across previous customers who have dealt with your company before. In some cases these companies may have advertised with your group of newspapers 2 years ago or had a previous feature done. What happens with a customer like this is they are usually forgotten and rediscovered by a new sales rep. Should these be classified as new sales? How long do they need to be neglected before they are new again?

How does your business handle these types of situations when commissions are involved and territories may overlap based on where the lead was originally generated? What if someone outside of sales asks for the business and gets it? Do you have the sales reps share the commission? Does the house step in and take 50% as a house account?

We have a great sharing policy in place for these grey areas since all sales reps are compensated with a guaranteed salary. Commission is paid for exceeding monthly targets. This sharing policy helps avoid cut throat techniques and hoarding of information which could have an adverse affect on your "Brand". If people are all working towards the goal of having a thriving business and a portion of the rewards from leads that overlap territories or house accounts is shared then everyone is happy. Giving a small percentage helps to encourage team work and avoid people feeling as if they were cut out.

What challenges has your business faced with sharing commission and tracking who owns a lead?

Design and Construction Report Magazine

July Issue of the GTA Construction Report

July Issue of the Ontario Construction Report

Publishers View Point July 2009

The past few months I have seen an increase in sales from people I have been dealing with for over a year. Usually you see a few repeat customers on a monthly basis from people you have dealt with but I am now noticing more and more repeat customers. Why?

The reason for this is I think is the puzzling question, which came first the chicken or the egg. To generate repeat business you need to have trust. To build trust you must build relationships, to build relationships you need to build trust, which comes first? Trust can sometimes come from your first greeting or it may take several meetings. By meetings I am not referring to sales pitches or presentations, I am referring to opportunities to talk about anything except for the dreaded sales pitch. Where have I found these opportunities? The greatest place has been interaction with the local associations on committees or events.

The reason I started to get involved was to get to know people and build a rolodex of contacts. (Oddly enough in this technology age I still have a real rolodex of business cards as back up to my Outlook contacts and Linked In network.) I began to understand the relationships between the contractors and trades, directors of associations and the membership and found that these associations are where most of the real business takes place away from the offices. With these relationships established when it comes time to talk business, I do not need to do the scripted introduction of who I am and what I do, these is all established well ahead of time by the coverage I do for events and news. The actual dreaded sales pitch take 5% of the time of a conversation when you have a relationship with trust vs. 95% of a cold call sales pitch.

Now not everyone you build a relationship with will buy what you are selling. The good thing is you are able to decipher this long before you ever need to ask. You know who has the budget or the policies. You know when you have a real good reason to ask they will buy because you ask when the time is right. The last key to building trust is giving more then you get back. I remember the movie from a few years back call Pay it Forward. The premise was to do something good for someone else and ask that they do the same. The best part is you never expect it to come back, but when it does you feel great.

Chase is the Director of Marketing and Client Relations for the Construction News and Report Group as well as the Associate Publisher for the GTA Construction Report and Ontario Construction Report. Chase also serves on the Board of Directors for the Barrie Construction Association and on several committees for the Niagara Home Builders and Construction Associations. If you have any recommendations or suggestions on changes you would like to make for the papers please contact him toll free at 1-888-432-3555 ext 211 or email him chase@cnrgp.com or visit us online at www.cnrgp.com

Tender Notices

With the advancement of our bi-weekly newsletter, websites, email notifications and newspapers you can ensure your tender notices reach potential bidders 24 hours a day.

You can post your tender with one of our local newspapers such as the GTA Construction Report and depending on the closing date you will receive the following all for $100.

- Email notification to a targeted region

- Tender listing can appear in our printed and online version of the paper with a link or web address to view full details

- Tender listing in our bi-weekly newsletter

What do you need bids on? Who do you want to read your tenders? We can help you reach your targeted audience.

For more details email me chase@cnrgp.com

A special "Thanks" to Advantage Flooring in St.Catharines

I wanted to give a special "Thanks" to Joe and the team at Advantage Flooring for sponsoring a sweater for my sons hockey team this fall with the St.Catharines Warriors. I as well as the players appreciate your community involvement.

Joe Ventresca
905-641-3112
320 Vansickle Rd
St. Catharines, ON, L2R 6P7
joev@advantageflooring.ca