Not much of a salesman?

Here is an interesting post from Contractor Talk that touches on the need to develop a solid sales/marketing approach to expand your business.

From the author of the original post he seems to have the most important aspect working for him which is strong referrals. If his customers are coming back and referring others he must be doing something right as someone who is not satisfied with a job is 10 times more likely to spread the word then someone who is happy.

He actually highlights the next areas he needs to cover which are developing a strong web presence, updating his fleet of vehicles and looking at some targeted advertising. The key to his desire to expand will also hinge on him recognizing if he is the right person to do the sales or look at either promoting an existing employee or hiring externally.

Check out the rest of the thread here:

Not much of a salesman?

Ok, so it's getting clearer to me. I'm not much of a salesman. I've been busy and slowly expanding for the last 10 years, without much in the way of actually "selling" jobs. All referral work and clients who wanted to hire me. Not sure if it's the current economy, or if I've tapped out the pool I had, or if I'm screwing something up or what, but I'm getting calls, just not really selling (maybe 1/4 close ratio). What next?1) Try some advertising? I'm in the yellow pages, and have a half azzed page-holder website that's not done yet- HELLO, GET IT DONE DUMMY!2) Learn how to sell? This almost offends me, as I haven't had to even think about that 'til now. I used to get 90%. Without trying.3) Spruce up the image? I drive older trucks and wear logo'ed t-shirts (usually clean), could use a haircut.4) Gotta run- I'll check back later...