The economy is sluggish. Money isn't flowing like it was a few years ago. New business is difficult to find. Prospects aren't beating a path to your door or overloading your phone lines. The only thing "reliable" about your old reliable customers is that their orders will be smaller and less frequent.

If your strategies and actions for identifying and developing new business opportunities aren't working under current conditions, what are you going to do about it?

There are a lot of things you could do.

• You could step up your marketing efforts for identifying prospective customers.
• If appropriate, you could offer existing customers an incentive to accelerate their scheduled orders.
• You could ask existing customers to provide you with referrals to potential new customers.
• You could hit the phones - or the pavement - and make prospecting calls.
• You could call on your existing clients and look for additional ways to provide value for them.
• Can't decide which strategy would be the most effective, bring the fastest results, or generate the biggest return? Stop thinking about it. Continuing to "think about it" is like allowing a prospect to "think about it" when making a buying decision. Both lead to the same place - NOWHERE.

Not making a decision...is a decision: a decision to do NOTHING.

Are you afraid of making the wrong decision and perhaps making things worse? It would be wonderful if every decision you make was the "right" decision. But, many "right" decisions aren't reached until a few "wrong" decisions are first tested. Every "wrong" decision inevitably reveals a lesson which, if applied, makes the next decision a potentially better one.

Regardless of how many lessons you learn before you "get it right," by making a decision to do SOMETHING, you start the process of moving forward and making progress. So, stop THINKING, make a decision, and start ACTING.

posted by Effective Sales Development  # 1:26 PM