Show notes
It's not like, well, there's just one method for ruling your territory. But the one thing that is critical to all of it, is identifying your area. Identifying your territory. Focusing in on it and making sure that you become a known commodity in that area. So that people have the opportunity to choose you.
David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast in today's episode, cohost Jay McFarland, and I will be discussing the idea of ruling your territory. Welcome back, Jay.
Jay: Yeah. Thank you, David. This is a really interesting topic. I've been excited to get to this topic, ruling your territory, being the master of your general...
David: your domain
Jay: ...area. Yeah, of your domain.
David: That was a Seinfeld episode, I think.
Jay: Yeah, that's right. However you want to say it. So many of the things that we talk about, I don't know if they're top of mind for business owners or for salespeople. They have so many other things going on. For them to be thinking about market share or things like that and how that can affect their business, especially over the long haul.
David: Yeah. That's why I think it's great to discuss. Because when we are in the thick of it, we tend to forget about the fact that, whoever we are, if we're a business owner or a salesperson, we are operating in a particular territory. And recognizing that we could be spread out, we could have a few customers. Let's say we have two customers in one huge city, and we've got two customers in another huge city somewhere else. If we're sort of spread out, but nobody else in either of those cities even know who we are, at that point we're really not ruling our territory.
And this idea sort of traces along with the idea of dominating your market, which is something that we talk about quite often. You know, what is your market? What is your territory? How do you define it? Is it defined primarily geographically that you sell primarily in your small geographic area? In your area of town? Your city? Your state? Is it nationwide?
Is it with particular industries? How do you define it? Because that's going to determine whether you are just inhabiting a territory or ruling it, dominating it.
Jay: I like that question. Are you just inhabiting? Are you just there? Or are you ruling it? And I think one of the things that can be done, and I don't see this in a lot of small businesses, is just making a list of all of your potential clients.
And that should give you an idea of where you stand. And then if you know a list of who they're using. And so, you know, your client and you know who your competitors are. I would think that that's probably a good place to start.
David: It's a great place to start. And also thinking in terms of the other people who are like your clients who operate in a similar area, either in a similar geographic area or a similar demographic, however, you're defining your territory.
Also, when I use words like ruling and dominating, I don't want them to sound as intimidating as some people interpret them to be. What I mean is that you're essentially staking your claim. You're saying, okay, look, this is an area where I want to do well. I want to excel. I want to be known. I want people to know me and I want to know other people in this particular market.
They're not all going to do business with me. I recognize that, but I want to make sure that all of the people who could potentially use my products and services at least know that I exist so that they could consider me if it makes sense for us to work together.
Jay: Yeah. I think that's really important. I think a lot of times people think about, well, I go in and I get the sale and if I don't get the sale, well, then I'm done with that customer.
But if you make it more of I'm going to go in and get a relationship, instead of a sale. If you get the sale, that's great. But if you don't, what happens when the customer they're using falls down?
David: Right.
Jay: When the customer they're using makes a mistake or goes out of business. If you already have that relationship, well now you are going to be the first call, right? So that relationship, I think, is so important.
David: Yeah, I agree. And I think for most salespeople, the idea of relationship, it's always a great talking point. Not always as well practiced as it should be. But it's absolutely true. If we're establishing relationships, that's going to be great. And as many relationships as possible and as makes sense in a particular area.
So let's say somebody's focused on selling to a niche industry, a niche industry, however you want to pronounce it. And you're selling to the tech industry. You want to make sure that you're interacting with as many tech people as possible within the market or territory that you've identified so that they have the opportunity to potentially talk about you.
Oh, do you know Jay? Oh yeah. I know Jay! Right? Because if that happens, then you can start to develop a little bit of buzz. You can start to get more referrals. And when you become better known in a market, it just becomes a whole lot easier to dominate, you know, to actually score in that territory because they talk to somebody else, "oh yeah, I know them. I use them." And when that happens enough, when they have enough of those conversations, they're going to be a lot more likely to use you than if nobody else has any idea who you are.
Jay: Yeah, in that first blush cold call. Is this a reason to like go to Chamber of Commerce meetings, and get involved in those types of organizations?
David: It could be...
Jay: ...to help build those relationships.
David: It could be. I think they definitely require investigation. Because some of them are great and some of them are terrible. And I know a lot of people who have gone to Chamber of Commerce functions and you go back week after week and it's the same people and everybody's trying to sell and nobody's trying to buy.
But I think that also goes to the strategy. Because if it's the same people coming each week, then you want to at least build relationships with them and find out who in their organizations could actually potentially buy from you. As opposed to "yeah, I don't do that." And we're just going to stand around and eat food and drink drinks and not get anything accomplished business-wise. That can happen. So I think it's a good idea to say, okay, how far can I take those relationships? If they can refer me to the people in their organization who either could use help regarding what I do. Or if they could introduce me to somebody else that they know who could potentially use that sort of help, then you can get some sort of viral effects going.
Jay: Yeah, I like that. I know you've also talked in the past about sending something to everybody who may be a potential customer. If you're in the merchandising or print-on-demand business, sending them something with their logo or something like that, just so they've seen your name a couple of times. That can be a good start as well. Correct?
David: It can, and when you're doing something like that, some people say, "well, I don't want to spend the money to do that." But when you realize that your time is worth at least as much as anything that you might be sending to someone, it can really change your perspective.
Some people are like, "well, I don't want to spend 10 bucks and send somebody a promotional gift." And you say, "Okay, well, are you going to spend three months of your life trying to figure out if this person is a good prospect for you?" What's that worth? It's worth a whole lot more than 10 bucks, probably. And so, if you can utilize something like that to get their attention, to get them engaged in conversation sooner, and to get them qualified in or out faster, it becomes worth a high multiple of whatever it is you would pay to send that out in the first place.
Jay: Well, and also maybe you don't send it to every potential customer.
David: Right.
Jay: Maybe you send out 10 a month, you know, five a month, whatever you can budget and just have that as part of your plan. So you don't have to write this huge check that you can't afford right up front.
David: The other thing that something like that does, is it forces you to think about who it is that you're reaching. Because you're not going to want to do that with just anyone.
And that's actually a good thing. Because it forces you to think, okay, this is a large company. This is a person who probably makes the buying decisions here. This is somebody who's worth a $10 investment to even have a conversation and get them qualified in or out. So I think it does a lot of good things in that regard.
Jay: Yeah, I, love that idea. What else can I do as a business owner to focus on mastering the market?
David: Well, I think if you really look at where you are currently spending your time, again, is it geographic? Is it within a particular industry? Are you spread out all over or do you have a nice, tightly concentrated group of clients in a particular area? If you do then to be able to spread out from there is easier. You can spread out closer to home, essentially, closer to where you're already dominating. If you automatically jump to a new area, a new pond, you know, you want to be a big fish in a small pond or whatever. If you're jumping from pond to pond, you're not going to get the traction you're probably looking for.
So if you are established in a particular area, get as much business there as possible and then work to slowly spread out as close to that area as possible. If you are known in a number of different areas and you don't have your business sort of consolidated, then explore which of those seems like the best opportunity for you.
If you're operating in a number of different industries, for example.