PPB January 2019

FEATURE | Sales Prospecting 92 | JANUARY 2019 | Kelsey Hufnagel Founder/CEO, MR Promotions & Apparel Absolutely everyone who comes across my path is a prospect. Knowing my community and my province, what my strengths are and who my warm/hot market is, is where I begin. I branch out from there. Also, with my mentor and through discussion, I have identified specific industries in which I want to put my focus through marketing campaigns. Where do I find my clients, potential clients? Everywhere. The rink, the pitch, the ball diamond, breakfast networking meetings, local women entrepreneur events, the Business Network International (BNI) group, local chamber. I am a hunter. I don’t stop until I find out. Bill McCormick Co-Owner, Team Creative Connections I serve medium- to large-sized corporations in the finance, health and tech fields. When in my geographic territories I take pictures of signs in corporate parks and then research them online and check who they have in the marketing function on LinkedIn. Zack Barna President, Boompromo Aim small, miss small. We have a running list of companies that we consider our ideal client and we target their marketing team. This also requires turning away prospects that don’t fit our ideal client requirements. We’ve never turned away more business than we have this year and it’s been the biggest revenue and profit year in our 11 years in business. Charles Wilson Owner, Absolute Printing Solutions My primary focus is on social media. As a small-business owner, I absolutely despise sales calls, especially with the recent spamcalls that we are being inundated with. I wouldmuch rather suppliers send an e-mail rather than call. I also find it easier to checkmessages when time permits. My niche is the fitness industry, so we get a lot of business from there. A buddy and I also run a large Facebook group on fitness called the National Fit Tribe that allows me to target larger groups of fitness individuals and businesses. If there is a need to focus on other industries, we do the research, figure out what product has the best ROI and then put a target audience together and push out Facebook ads. Erin Eberhardt Owner/President, West Shore Associates, LLC I use networking groups like chamber leads groups and BNI. Join local charity groups. Get to know people and ask for referrals. Create groups with complimentary businesses and support each other. Help other people and it comes back to you in new business. As they say at BNI, “Givers gain.” Dave Holden Sales Rep, Printasaurus, LLC I talk to everyone and get new clients at the carwash, grocery store, bible study—just everywhere. I start by asking what they do for a living and then, of course, they ask me what I do, and away I go! Charity Gibson, a former distributor owner, is currently the national account coordinator at supplier Peerless. She is also a founding chef at PromoKitchen and was named a PPB Rising Star in 2017.