Is Your Sales Force Driving Away Business?

How many hours do you spend in a week looking for new customers? How many telephone calls, networking meetings and other activities do you engage in to find viable candidates to be customers? Are your efforts targeted or random? Do you hone your activities with laser-like precision or do you have a sawed-off shotgun and just blast away?

I've noticed among colleagues and clients a growing trend toward more shotgun approaches than lasers. It seems for many businesses that if the other person is breathing, they're considered a lead. If a name is mentioned over coffee, it's a warm referral, and so on. Whether it's a sense of urgency to meet your sales goals or a sense of panic that you haven't met your sales goal, a lot of effort is going into minimal results. Personally, when I get a cold call or am hounded repeatedly even by businesses whose services or products I may need now or in the future, it lessens the chance I will do business with them in favor of their non-hounding competitors.For instance, I have in the past bought in-person computer training courses where I go to a training center and spend a day or more in a classroom learning how to use software. Well, two years ago, I made the mistake of requesting information on courses and schedules from a company that I had used previously. I have now heard from that company more times than I ever have wanted. They call and call ... and call. I have told its reps that I made my purchase elsewhere (an online course). Yet they continue to call every phone number I have. They email my primary email address and every general email address found on my Web sites. They call with "limited-time deals" at the end of each month. They call with special seasonal discounts "because it's Groundhog Day" (not really, but you get the point).I won't be buying from that company again. Why? Because it is annoying me and taking up my valuable time. I obviously know who they are, what they do and how to reach them. I don't feel like a valued customer ... I feel stalked!

Reaching out to potential and past customers is a necessary part of doing business. But there is a fine line between aggressive marketing and alienating your target market. Each customer will have a different expectation as to how, when and how frequently they want to be contacted. A prospect, even a truly qualified prospect, will have a reasonable expectation that saying "not interested" or "I'll call you when I need something" won't lead to weekly or even monthly calls pushing for a meeting, a sale, etc.

Personally I miss the days when business development, marketing and sales had clearer lines and everyone understood their boundaries; in other words, organizations understood the process, the steps and the dance of making a sale. You didn't go from "Hello my name is Fred and I work for Widget World. I'd like to tell you about my products and how they will help you" to "Hellomyisfredandiworkforwidgetworld. Howmanydoyouwanttobuy?"The hard-sell, quick-sell attempt seems to be what many "networking" events are about. I used to attend at least one major business community event a week in my area. It was good to get out, see what others were doing and meet people. Then the events became more like a shark feeding frenzy.It is neither fun nor productive to attend events to meet people with the hopes of identifying a few people you may want to develop a business relationship with (and yes, perhaps ultimately make a sale to) when those events are more about a complete stranger asking you to "refer" him/her to one of your best customers, because after sharing finger food and two seconds of conversation you are considered a close friend. I don't know about you, but I'm not that easily obtained as a referral source. I value my customers, colleagues and friends too highly to make a recommendation without true knowledge of the person and their company.So step back, take a breath and ask yourself, "How can I be more effective and increase my sales without alienating my prospects and existing customers?" Remember that while we all know we are prospective customers and buyers and our vendors want that next sale, we don't want to feel that the only things our vendor sees is dollar signs when they think of us. Sales are about relationships. Good, long-lasting and profitable relationships come from respect, courtesy and an understanding of what the customer wants from us, not what we want to push on the customer. Take the time to establish a connection with the people you want to do business with. It will be worth the time you invested. >To submit a news tip, email: tips@thestreet.com.Follow TheStreet on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. >To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints