Home ›› 11 Oct 2022 ›› Editorial
Prospecting is the process of identifying potential customers, finding them, and creating a base of leads to further communicate and convert them into paying customers.
Prospecting is sometimes defined as lead generation. However, while lead generation includes inbound and outbound approaches, prospecting deals with outbound only. In the sales funnel, prospecting, as well as lead generation, represents the first stage.
Prospecting is an active search for leads. It opens up new possibilities compared to attracting leads and introduces new difficulties. To improve prospecting results, you need a clear idea of your target audience and buyer persona.
When you don’t take shortcuts, quality prospecting can help with the following:
Better targeting
Prospecting gives you complete control over the lead collection and leads sources, letting you analyze which sources and channels perform best. Prospecting also helps you focus on and pick the leads that are most likely to become your customers, so you can fine-tune your search to collect prospects with the highest potential LTV (based on current customer base analysis).
Improved conversion rate
When you take your time with targeting, the conversion rate reflects that. Cold leads can even show higher conversion rates than warm leads, but only when carefully picked. So once again – pay attention to your targeting—quality over quantity.
Higher ROI
If you invest in a high-quality affordable prospecting tool, you will see your prospecting ROI rise. How important is such lead gen optimization? A good portion of sales leads state that leads generation optimization is their top priority for better prospecting.
Quicker replacement of churned customers
The churn is average. But to grow revenue, you need to ensure your customer base is growing, not shrinking. Prospecting will help fill your sales funnel with a consistent flow of fresh leads that will compensate for the churn and grow your base. And don’t forget about onboarding when you do address that churn.
1. Consistency – Fanatical Prospecting
A successful salesperson does the prospecting every single day.
To become great at sales, you must prospect daily and do it repeatedly.
Block your schedule and allow for some uninterrupted time when you will only work on this task.
Do that during your power hours – the hours when you feel the most productive. If you feel most effective in the morning, that’s when you should do the prospecting.
2. Focus, Focus, Focus
We can’t stress this enough. The focus is necessary to get things done, especially regarding prospecting. Poor sleep impacts your productivity, so aim for at least 7 hours daily. Remember, working longer doesn’t mean achieving more. It can only lead to burnout. Get better sleep, and your work focus will significantly improve. Sometimes the only initial push that you need is a short mindfulness exercise. Start with your why and ask yourself why you’re doing something. Once you know why figuring out the how will be much easier, unplugging is another good tactic for improving your focus; if you dread starting the prospecting task, open it for a short period.
3. Learn how to Research
Prospecting is associated with finding and processing information about every contact. Research is one of the essential skills every salesperson should have.
4. Dealing with Rejection – Learning From Losses
Success comes from understanding your failures. In order to learn from your losses, you or your sales team, need to measure metrics and build reports. Setting the proper KPIs right from the start can help evolve your sales process.
But the work doesn’t stop there.
5. Providing Value
When you sell, the most important thing you have to provide is Value. And not just Value in your product or service.
6. Becoming Better at Cold Calling
The cold calling process can be tedious, especially if you are new to it. The number one thing is your mindset. Remember that it is not about you. It is about them.
To make this process more successful for you, call your prospect by their name and introduce yourself. Many people will drop the call, so you must immediately grab their attention. Also, prepare your questions in advance because qualifying a prospect will be much easier.
More customers: The average salesperson loses about 20 per cent of their customer base each year due to gradual attrition. Without prospecting, there are no leads to fill these gaps. In the game of sales, it’s essential to have more customers waiting in the case of a lost sale.
Increased revenue: As you are well aware, more customers leads to more gain. Having a forward-thinking mindset and opportunities filling your pipeline is crucial.
Qualification: Prospecting allows a salesperson to understand whether a customer is qualified for their service or product. Qualifying potential prospects will create a more efficient selling system and improve your sales process.
Data Gathering: While prospecting may not always lead to an immediate sale, it is a source of data and a chance to conduct market research. Prospecting can answer questions such as why people buy your product, what they think of your approach, and what their goals are, and assist salespeople in determining the best way to sell their product.
Here are the most relevant quotes from Peter Drucker and our interpretation of their relevance to sales professionals.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
Are you waiting for sales-ready leads or actively prospecting to build a balanced sales funnel? Are there enough opportunities with the correct dollar value and the right fit for your ideal customer profile to make your revenue number? Is your product mix sufficient?
The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.
You have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Planning for every sales call keeps you from being a “talking leaflet”, reminding you to ask good, thought-provoking questions and listen.
Knowledge must be constantly improved, challenged and increased continuously, or it vanishes.
Improve your skill set by reading sales, marketing and leadership books, newsletters, magazines and sales blogs. Join key LinkedIn groups. Attend sales training programs. Most of these programs focus on one concept or topic, offering valuable information. Some programs are delivered in workshops with a facilitator, while others provide e-learning. Develop a relationship with your company’s top performers.
Learn what they do different that makes them stand apart from the rest of the crowd…year in and year out. Also, don’t be afraid to ask your best customers for insight on what you could do better.
For example, top sales performers excel at account management by applying their knowledge of the customers’ business, enabling them to bring mutually beneficial solutions.
In sales, time is your enemy because there are never enough selling days. How you spend your time each day is critical to your success in making your number.
It’s a combination of account development and/or opportunity pursuit.
Selling time should be a sacred time. If you have good products, services and solutions and good salespeople, then increasing the percentage of their selling time will drive sales results. It’s the quickest and easiest way to increase sales productivity.
Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.
A business model for sales effectiveness creates a common language and ensures the sales team is executing the right selling behaviours to provide a competitive advantage and win more opportunities faster.
In sales, we must constantly remind ourselves that every sales activity must be customer-centric. Satisfied and loyal customers will always drive additional business.
Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action!
A sales call is focused; it’s focused on action. It must advance the buying process. It’s challenging to do this in a positive, professional manner that builds relationships without planning. Suppose several different stakeholders influence what is purchased from you. Do you take enough time to understand their wants, needs, KPIs and values that each must achieve to support your product? Do you document it so that you and others can securitize your strategy? In most markets today, the sale is too complex, with too many different stakeholders for a sales representative to keep all this disparate information in their head.
“What’s measured improves.”
Metrics drive results. In sports, everything is measured. Take a quarterback in football as an example: he is counted on passes attempted versus completed, passes thrown to different receivers, total yards, number of touchdowns within the 20-yard line etc. What are your metrics? For example: Where do you stand versus others in your organization relative to per cent to quota achieved this year and over the last several years? In sales, no one can rest on their laurels, and they must constantly be improving. What you did last quarter and last year is in the past. It’s yesterday’s news. No one cares. They only care about the present and the future.
“The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The true dangerous thing is asking the wrong question.”
Until you know what the customer is buying, you don’t see what you are selling. You learn this by asking well-worded questions that encourage the buying influence to provide you with both the quantity and quality of information. When you plan, you ask better questions.
“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.”
Every sales call should end with an active commitment if you don’t end with a measurable next step you have visited and not a sales call. Planning ensures that you define the best and minimum actions you desire to keep investing your time with this stakeholder.
The writer is MD and CEO of Community Bank. He can be contacted at [email protected]
