Four tips to spot business opportunities

How many people in your business are in contact with customers on a daily basis?

How many of them would be presented with new business opportunities but wouldn’t know what they look like or what to do with them?

Lately, we are hearing a common theme coming from chief executives, sales leaders, and partners at professional services firms: “My team cannot spot a business opportunity even when it’s right in front of them”.

These leaders are not looking for everyone in their team to be able to sell or even pursue opportunities. All they want is for these people to be able to spot opportunities and pass them on to the right person within their business in a timely manner.

While there is plenty you can do about creating a proactive whole-of-business client centric culture, here are four tips to help your team spot opportunities now. This includes everyone in contact with clients — receptionists, salespeople, customers service staff, delivery staff, professionals and technical teams, and those in credit and accounts. You get the gist.

1. 1. Ensure that everyone in contact with clients has in-depth knowledge of the capabilities of your organisation;
2. 2. Talk to them about what business opportunities look like;
3. 3. Make it easy for them to pass it along to the right person; and
4. 4. Celebrate new opportunities coming in through these ‘alternative’ channels.

By taking this approach you can double, triple, even quadruple, your sales force overnight without putting on a single new person.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.