Closing a sale is not an event; it’s a series of meetings and little victories that begin with a phone call to a potential customer. Rick Davis, president of Building Leaders, Inc. and author of the book Strategic Sales in the Building Industry, offers these five tips for generating sales leads and getting new customers:

1. Get the first meeting. Successfully scheduling the first face–to–face meeting with a potential customer is a small, but important victory.

2. Don’t push for the instant sale. Listen carefully as a potential customer explains his or her challenges. Before you determine how your product or service can solve their problems, make sure you truly understand how they run their business and sell their products.

3. Establish reasons for a second meeting. When all else fails, you can always say that you’d like time to digest the information about their company before making a sales pitch. Then, schedule the next meeting while you are still in front of the prospect.

4. Always keep the focus on your client. Use a follow–up meeting to reiterate what you learned from a previous meeting. Show how you processed the information and can support their needs. While building a personal relationship, explain specifically how your product or service will benefit their bottom line.

5. Don’t drop the ball. Use every resource available to follow up with a prospect. Send a written thank you note, email a relevant article or document, or leave a message.

When will sale be secured? Perhaps after you send a thank you note demonstrating your professional and personal courtesy. It’s even possible the close happened when the bid was presented, making the rest of the sales process a mere administrative formality. You may never know. However, by systematically tackling the groundwork, you’ve done everything possible to build a relationship that should lead to future business.

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