From Lead Generation to Closing: Dean Keating’s Proven Sales Tactics

Mastering Sales Strategies with Dean Keating | District 32 Podcast

In this episode of the District 32 podcast, Kingsley from Tomorrow’s Not Today is joined by Dean Keating, the co-founder of District 32, to discuss effective sales strategies. From the importance of having multiple approaches to the intricacies of customer touchpoints, Dean shares his extensive business development experience. If you're looking to refine your sales tactics and boost your business, this conversation is packed with valuable insights.

What is District 32 - The Power of Connection?

D32 is a premium business growth network where business leaders and experts in Perth and across Australia form meaningful relationships so they can leverage the time, contacts and activities of a vast network. D32 supports the little guys (and gals) and the 7-8-figure businesses. We’re a community that has each others’ backs. This podcast is about all things business, entrepreneurship and connectiom.

Sales Strategy
===

Kingsley: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the District 32 podcast. Uh, I'm Kingsley from Tomorrow's, not today in the studio. Dean Keating, the co-founder District 32. Two two. Yeah. It's half my fault.

D 32. D 32. It seems like your branding is sort of Yeah. No, , we've rebranded, so it's D 32 Business Network now. 'cause we kind of felt. Districts where, who didn't say what it said in the tin, and that was pointed out by people who had inquired about our, franchise. So we've rebranded, name change on our 10th birthday this week.

So all fresh and new. Is it your 10th birthday? Yeah, Monday. , we, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. You had a big party in wa didn't you? Yeah, a big one this week. In the, on the Gold Coast on Friday. So should we go Oh, is that gonna be a party? Yeah. Well, at the Maxi event. Yeah. I didn't realize that. There you go.

Okay. That makes it even more important to be there. Yeah, it'd be good. It'd be good. Now. We were talking before your topic for today. I [00:01:00] love this because I think there's very few of us who actually have this absolutely nailed. Yeah. Yeah. And it's your background as well. Yeah. It's something I know you're very passionate about.

Yeah. Which is sales strategy. Yeah. So in a, give me an overall to start with on what a sales strategy is. Yeah. Yeah. So, so I suppose my background is largely in business development, so I view business development as you're starting from ground zero. You have no budget or very little budget, so how are you gonna fill that pipeline?

So I always recommend that you have three to four strategies and you put weights on them. So strategy one might be 60% of your time. Strategy two could be 30%, strategy three could be five, and whatever the remainder is. So, and review them. What's working, what needs to be changed, where do I need to focus with time?

I suppose an interesting question, I do ask, people in business, how do you guys do sales? And it does be, you know, you can read the body language. Well, most people, it doesn't flow well, here's how we do it. We do A, we do B, we do C, we do D. Usually people have to think about it. So what that says to me [00:02:00] is there is a sales strategy, but it's largely ad hoc.

There isn't a particular flow about what they do. And even with, with successful seven figure businesses, I would find the same. So I think it's important that we all have. Treat to four strategies kind of nailed down that we review regularly. I, whether that's weekly or monthly, for me it's weekly.

It, it seems like, from what I'm hearing, there's a couple of things going on here. Yeah. One is you've got different sales strategy. Yeah. So you're putting different emphasis on at a particular time. Yeah. And the other one is the actual flow of that particular strategy is as like your pipeline.

Not so much your pipeline, but how, well I guess it is how you get them from Yeah. First. Interaction and whatever degree through to sales. Yeah. Can you sort of hook those together? Does each strategy have to work the same way in the flow of a customer or what's different? No, I suppose the goal for me on a weekly basis is how do I fill the top of that pipeline, uh, and like surveys, uh, that I've seen in the [00:03:00] past, like, 48% of.

Professional salespeople, the part of the sales process they hate is the first part, which is basically the lead, the lead generation. A survey where we actually district what you'd done a number of years ago as well with business leaders, figures, work, work quite similar. So it is the hardest part is getting people into the top of that pipeline.

So the question I ask yourself is. What am I doing over this week, as a, as business development to get people into the top of that pipeline? So, so for me, it hasn't actually changed too much over the 32 years, and networking has always been big for me because you have a captive audience who are there for similar reasons.

Having one-to-one meetings, which largely get in the back of the networking, for the most part. It's my, it is my second strategy. My third strategy is usually the phone. And then my last strategy, , which I haven't done too much of lately, is, old fashioned door knocking. So I put a weight on them.

So probably over, over recent times, I've probably spent maybe 40% of my time on the networking, probably 40, 40, 40 to 50% on the one-to-ones and the remainder on the, [00:04:00] on the telesales, stroke, door knocking, aspect. Okay. So that's, that's different strategies that you're using. Yeah. What about the flow to take them from I've got them into this funnel.

Yeah. And then taking them through to an actual cell. Yeah. Great, great question. So, so what, what data would say in recent times is it takes between four and 22 touch points for someone to be , in, in that buying a lot isn't it? It is a lot. But again, you gotta think about it. You're building a relationship.

You're trying to build a trust. So the question ask, how am I gonna do that? You don't have time. For coffees and zoom calls with an individual every week. So you're looking at leveraging off automation so that, so that customer journey could be stuff like connecting on LinkedIn. It could be a phone call.

It could be a coffee meeting. It could be them getting your newsletter. It could be them inviting you to an event. I'd highly recommend the district 30 to events. I don't know why. It could be sharing of an article, like there's so many, , touch points that are soft, but what you're trying to do is build that, build that connection.

So when you're saying touch points mm-hmm. That can be [00:05:00] any way where they see you sort of in a positive way? Yeah. Any way someone interacts with your brand, they might see, you might have an add on social media, they might see an article on LinkedIn. So any, any way someone sees your name or brand is I suppose what we call a touch point.

So the more touch points, obviously the quicker they become familiar, your name, , the trust bills. But the, the hard part I was saying is the first part, the lead generation, how are you gonna get, fill the top of that pipeline? Because you kinda think about the nurturing part. I'm not saying it's easy, but I mean, what we've just shared there is half a dozen examples, which, aren't too difficult.

But the hard part is actually how do I fill the top of that pipeline? How am I making the connections to get them into the space where I can actually nurture them with the view to maybe either closing them or have them as referral partners. So that, that, that is the tough part. I said my strategies have generally been as a BDM business development starting from ground zero, low budget.

So you can see what, what my activity is. It's around networking one-to-ones I. The [00:06:00] phone and some old fashioned door knocking. So there's not a lot of, expense incurred in those activities. Now, obviously every business is gonna operate a little bit differently. Yeah, yeah. You're a networking group, you've got it companies out there, you've got mechanics, you've got, , people with hotels.

Yeah. You've got finance people. Oh, is there a certain thing that everyone should be doing? Yeah. To, to build that funnel? Yeah. Well, I suppose my view is, I don't discriminate. , so I'm glad about that. So I'm, looking to just get, fill the top of the pipeline. Like at the end of the day, not everyone's gonna be my client, but potentially they could be, a referral partner.

They could introduce me to family, friends. Associates in charity sports or whatever the case may be. So I, I don't discriminate as they go through the pipeline, you kind of figure out, oh, after a number of touch points, who potentially will be a client or customer who potentially will be a referral partner, and then you, you, you put that focus where it needs to go.

But initially, I'm just looking to fill the [00:07:00] top of my pipeline, so I'm setting myself. KPIs around each week, how many have added to the top of that pipeline. I don't wanna rely totally on, on digital advertising and stuff. That's great as well. But I have a focus around how do I add to the top of that pipeline.

So now I could be going a little bit off track here. Yeah, go for it. Yeah. But you got things like sponsorships. Yeah. So let's say, you are at an event or, football's really big in your area. Is something like that where you might buy a sign, you might be giving away a trophy at a golf club or whatever it is.

Yeah. Would you class that as like a touch point that people have seen you? Yeah, a hundred percent. It's a touch point, but if you actually flick that to the other side, so say your kids are involved with that a FL team. People are sponsoring for a reason. They're looking for exposure. So I mean, if you were to contact them as, Hey, my kid plays for the team, I'd be keen to meet with you.

My project services, there could be synergies. What you're 9 99 times hundred is sponsor. We're getting some [00:08:00] interaction from the community, which we're sponsoring. So that's a good way of filling our pipeline. Being aware kind of, I suppose socially, I'm not saying you should spend all your time, thinking of pdm, but.

So stuff like that, is a good opportunity. I mean, an a FL local team might have a dozen, maybe 20 sponsors and potentially they all have databases. So again, they might be a direct client for yourself, but they might have the database you want to link into. So does potential being a sponsor or being involved in that club or community group?

I like where you went there, whereas you might. You do a sponsorship. Yeah, but what can come off the back of that? Mm-hmm. Is there a database there? Is there a special day they're putting on? Yeah. Is there, you know, how else can you get involved with the people there as well? Yeah. Well, a hundred great question.

And I suppose, I mean, if you're sponsoring an event, usually the. Group or association, whatever the, what the case may be. I mean, they're going to give you ideas, but here's how you're getting exposure. Here's how you're getting inquiries or we host these events and you, you take [00:09:00] home the attendee list.

So again, if you're sponsoring something that's important, you're thinking, okay, where's the value in this? How am I gonna get people into the top of this pipeline from being a sponsor? And again, I mean there's other good stuff around sponsorship, goodwill and community and sport as well, like Absolutely.

And people love working with people who are there to help their community, their group or whatever it is. Yeah, exactly. How do you know, like when, so you've got someone in the top of your funnel. Yeah. You sending newsletters, you might give a call, you do whatever. How do you know when it's time to actually start?

If I can be a bit crude selling them. Yeah. Yeah. Is that something where they may ask a question or you can see a need Yeah. That you know you can help with? What, how do you know where it's the time? I think it comes back to, I know you've touched on it in previous conversations. It's around, listing again with intent.

To kind of be aware of what, do they have a pain point for your product or service? And what are the questions? Are you asking the right questions? And again, I'm not saying go straight in for the kill when you meet someone. 'cause people will get defensive. So [00:10:00] spend a bit of time building the trust.

If you, if you're starting from ground zero. But li but listen with intent, what do they need to grow their business or sell their product or service? Where can you add value and f and fast track that trust? And a lot of times I find if you're, if you're building the trust and you're doing that well, it's easier then to kinda say, Hey, listen, I think we've got a solution that might.

Solve that issue, challenge, problem you've got in the business or what, whatever the case may be. And again, going back to what I said earlier, oh, like you get a good feeling like, I mean, there's, there's one I can think of particular I, my sales process, I ignored what I normally do. And I kind of fast tracked, the closing part and oh, it was terrible.

I felt terrible personally. And it's, this is about three years ago, and, I just dumped my whole process for the sake of trying to close. And I knew the guy needed district would, would've been a massive value add to what he was trying to achieve. But I kind of, I pushed him away from that meeting, whereas I had, it just stuck to what I know.

Nurture, build the trust, ask the right questions, [00:11:00] be able to showcase where you can add value to where 42 would be, would've been, added value to his business as a solution to what he was looking for. What the good feeling, I think is, is, for me is a big thing. Oh, a hundred percent. A hundred.

Where? It's one thing to be in business, you gotta be fulfilled and feel good about what you're doing as well at the same time. Yeah, a hundred percent. I like what you said there, you're taking them through the, they're in the funnel, there's a bit of nurturing. You're listening to them and then, you know, 'cause you're building the trust and hearing.

Have I got something that's actually gonna help them? Yeah. And I think it that what you just said, that framework you put out, it doesn't matter what industry you are in or how you do business, it's exactly that same simple framework. And I think if anybody listening to this podcast was to just implement that there, in whatever, however that's gonna fit into their business.

But that basic playing four steps. Yeah. I think you're laughing. I think the things to remember as well, Kingsley is, we're on the same team as the [00:12:00] prospects. Like it's not them versus us. We're on the same team. We want them , to thrive on our product or service. And sometimes our product and service isn't a good fit.

So, be honest, don't sell for the sake of selling. I mean, there's a couple of people even with this issue over the years, and I like you'd say, listen, I don't think we're a good fit. And you kind of highlight the reasons and maybe direct them elsewhere for. Something that would be a good fit on why their personality wise or or for what?

For what they need. No, I love that, Dean. That's fantastic. And that how you just framed that is absolute gold and yeah. Appreciate it. I'm gonna take that myself and steal Oh, good stuff. Steal a few points there and see what I can adjust as well. Oh, I'll keep you accountable. Next one. Yeah, that's a worry.

Thanks Dean. No worries. Been a pleasure. Cheers, Kingsley.