Sealing the Deal

Hello all,

Much has progressed since my last post which I am greatly excited to share! One of my favorite aspects of business happens to also be one of the most gratifying aspects. This, as the title of this blog entry is named, is sealing the deal. What is better than seeing your hard work come to fruition? Not a whole lot. Over the past couple of months, I have worked hard for Liturgica.com, doing market research, gathering and collecting potential leads, and finally reaching out to these prospective customers and trying to sell them on our new advertising program.

Many people have their own way of accomplishing this process, generally based on what they find most comfortable and successful. My personal method of contacting a lead involves two main steps. My method involves first an email, providing the necessary data, pictures, and introduction of the concept. The key with this email is to also make the title of it unique and personalized, so that it doesn’t end up in their junk mail! Since many people are really reliant upon email, and screen calls anyway, I really find that email is a great first step in this process. If the lead responds, I act accordingly; if the lead doesn’t respond, I move on to the follow up call. If I am able to reach the contact on the first try, I already have a good intro to the conversation by bringing up the recent email I sent their way. This will lead me into my spiel, which is hopefully persuasive enough to peak interest. At this point, avoid sounding like a businessman at all costs. Be serious, but don’t be selly. If you talk to them on their level, person to person, and I’ve found I’ve gotten a lot farther. If you cannot reach this person on the first call, leave a message, wait and week, and rinse/repeat.

This method has seemed to do just fine for me, as I’ve already locked in 5 deals! If you happen to check out the website, you can see the ads up already, cycling each time the page is refreshed. And I’ll tell you what, that is one of the most gratifying experiences thus far in this entire experience; going to the site and seeing my hard work displayed on the side banner. My goal by the end of the summer is to seal 5 more deals, which will give us a total of 10 advertisers. Stay tuned for the next post to see how that goes!

Peace and Progress,

Jamie