There is a place about a mile from my home that sells hot dogs. They have a large sign out front that simply reads "Big Dawg" with a picture of a juicy hot dog. They always appear to be busy and the simple message seems to be doing the trick. Most of the time I drive past the Big Dawg sign I've just eaten or I'm going home to eat so I don't pull in. But I must admit that the repeat exposure to the sign wears me down and the inviting juicy hot dog picture has pulled me into the parking lot more than once.

Their sales strategy is simple - place a sign on a busy highway and get people to stop in when they are hungry.

Applying the Big Dawg Selling Strategy

Salespeople should apply the Big Dawg selling strategy on every call for their company services. It's important to remember that ninety percent of the time, prospects aren't hungry for our services at the exact moment we contact them. It is the fundamental reason for making repeat sales calls - We simply want to remind them that we are there to serve them and we have something they want or need.

Now, let's take this a little further. Let's say that you didn't sell hot dogs but instead sold the best product your company offers to customers driving by every day. Now let's imagine that your competition has a similar business along the same highway. How would your sign attract more clients to pull into your parking lot than the competition?

The words and the pictures on your sign are the ones you need to use when you meet with customers and prospects. These need to be repeated on a regular basis because your customers aren't always ready to purchase when they drive by. However, when the need comes up for your service or product, you want to be the first one they think of.

Expanding the Big Dawg Strategy

If all we sold was hot dogs, the Big Dawg strategy is probably enough. Unfortunately, life isn't so simple and we offer more than one product or service. This requires us to expand the Big Dawg strategy toward TOMA, or Top of Mind Awareness on many products and in many ways. The best way to accomplish this is with multiple contact methods that reminds customers and prospects that we are there when they are hungry for our services. Consider these four basic ways to communicate in business:

• Personal Contact - Visiting a client or prospect is the strongest traditional method to help clients solve their problems with suggestions, and remind them of the services we offer.
• Telephone Contact - A phone call allows us to listen to our prospects challenges and provide suggestions and solutions to their problems.
• Mailing - Letters, postcards, brochures, notes and flyers can create an impression so clients think of us first when they need our services.
• Emails are a great way to create impressions with our clients and remind them of our services. This is particularly true in today's marketplace as more and more business leaders are making decisions based on information from the web.

The reason the Big Dawg selling strategy works is because it communicates a simple message on a busy highway. The challenge we face is placing our business message on the right highway. We aren't just talking about the asphalt highway anymore. We must be on the information highway too. The successful business has a balanced selling communication strategy to reach TOMA with every customer and prospect. The key is to communicate in the manner that best suits customers and prospects.

The Big Dawg Challenge

Customers are different in the way they handle communications. Some customers are traditional and require personal sales visits and telephone calls to gather information. Salespeople and businesses usually create trust and value with in person visits and contacts. With the Internet and email, this model is changing and decision makers are making decisions from the information they get on the Internet.

Do you know how your clients communicate and gather information? If a customer or prospect is a heavy internet user, the salesperson or business should have a communication strategy to reach them on the Internet highway, like the Big Dawg sign does for selling hot dogs. Email and printed communications should deliver information and point customers and prospects to your website to order on-line.

The message is clear, businesses and salespeople must adapt their Big Dawg sales strategies so they are reaching contacts with simple and multiple messages that builds trust and places them at TOMA with customers and prospects. We must remember that selling is a matter of being able to communicate a message to our customers and prospects when they are hungry. Because there are several highways our customers travel on, we must balance our communications to reach them better than our competition. Good Selling!