Issue link: https://nbm.uberflip.com/i/1488543
6 8 G R A P H I C S P R O • J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M S T I T C H S O L U T I O N S | J E N N I F E R C O X Skip the Chitchat Getting to the point will boost your chances during prospecting A P P A R E L D E C O R A T I N G Jennifer Cox is one of the founders and serves as president of the National Network of Embroidery Professionals (NNEP), an organiza- tion that supports embroidery and apparel decoration professionals with programs and services designed to increase profitability and production. You can contact her at jennifer@nnep.com. W e all have to make sales in order for our businesses to survive, much less thrive. Many apparel decoration pro- fessionals struggle to be effective at pros- pecting. So much so that many business owners never seem to get around to inten- tionally doing it at all. Without doing any prospecting to bring in new business, you are leaving the suc- cess of your business up to chance or to fate. If another order comes to you, you will earn money. When you engage in prospecting, the odds tip in your favor. You have changed the chances from "if " an order comes in to "when" an order comes in. It is a numbers game, plain and simple. e more times you reach out and interact with people and businesses about your business, the more likely it is that you will connect with someone that has a current need for custom decorated prod- ucts or apparel, which you can fulfill. I define prospecting as any effort you make to reach out to your community and target customer bases to catch their attention and remind them that you are in business, ready to create custom goods and apparel specifically for their needs. is is a rather broad definition. It includes all the social media posts you cre- ate and share for your business. It includes any emails you send out to your lists. It includes any sales calls that you make on the phone or in person. It includes all the interactions you have in person with potential and existing customers. Here is the secret that I want to share with you. Stop the "chitchat" and get right to the point, whenever you can. Let me explain. You know how you can always tell when it is a salesperson calling when you answer the phone? ese calls The Lakeside Alliance is the organization that built the Obama Presidential Library. (Image courtesy DC Caldwell, DC Mad Hatter)