increasing business vs decreasing costs

I see one problem with your presentation to your prospect: you say you don't know their business. I'll grant you that you may not know ALL ABOUT their business but, if you're approaching them as your prospective customer and you have no idea about their business, you haven't done your homework. That's a no-no in professional sales if you want to be maximally successful.

You might wish to read about them in the local newspaper morgues, become a potential customer to ferret out some facts and info. Most importantly, don't go in and just start pitching your solution until you have talked with the owner and asked questions regarding their business. It doesn't have to be a grilling type of Q & A thing...just in the course of conversation. It's okay to admit that you'd like to know a bit more about their business (most folks are glad to chat about their business if they have the time just then). In the course of their discourse, when appropriate, ask about any drawbacks or problems they've encountered. When appropriate, use this information to tailor your pitch to that person.

Only then are you ready to make your pitch using your previous methods...not before. You'll find that people are much more receptive using this technique than the 'hard sell' approach. Not only that, they're also more likely to give you referrals to other businesses.

Sandi Bowman

P.S. Don't forget the thank you note. It's done far too little in today's world but people DO notice and mention it when they see you again.