Sales and Sales Management Blog

Ten Tips to Tap the Power of Prospecting!
by Dave Anderson

Many salespeople prospect little, if at all, for two primary reasons: they are so focused on short-term results of their job that they fail to build a career and they become discouraged, because they see little immediate results from their prospecting efforts. Sadly, most of these efforts are sloppy and haphazard! With a little bit of common sense, consistency, and courage, you can build a prospecting discipline into your sales arsenal that not only brings in immediate results…but will also convert your job into a long-term, high-paying career.

1. Prospect before you need prospects.
Many salespeople prospect only when business is slow. They are motivated primarily by desperation and the fear of starvation! The key, one-word strategy that makes prospecting far more effective is “proactive,” because you will never build a pipeline of prospects if the only time you prospect is when you’re desperate. A key strategy for becoming proactive at prospecting is to set weekly prospecting goals and scheduling the activities necessary to achieve results.

2. Remember that a key to prospecting is consistency.
Inconsistent prospecting efforts bring little results and much frustration, just as with inconsistent dieting or exercise. You’re often worse off for your half-hearted efforts than had you never started in the first place. Develop discipline, because without it you’ll never develop the work ethic necessary to see tangible, long-term results.

Definition of discipline: Making yourself do the things that you know are important even when you don’t feel like doing them; even when doing so is not easy, cheap, popular, or convenient!

3. Use follow-up to convert initial introductions into relationships.
Without follow-up, prospecting is an extremely low-percentage proposition. Following up by phone, sending out information, or placing the prospect on your mailing list is essential to turning a “new face” into a consistent source for sales. It’s important to remember that giving out your business card or brochure is only half of the prospecting equation. You must also gain and record the prospect’s contact information for future follow-up.

4. Avoid “Hail Mary’s” unless all high percentage efforts have been exhausted.
“Hail Mary’s” are long-shot time wasters: cold calling from the yellow pages, mailing to prospects who have not been pre-qualified, and the like. “Hail Mary’s” connect every so often, but you don’t want to bet your career on them. Long shot, low percentage prospecting efforts are one of the key killers of enthusiasm for prospecting.

5. Use soft-touch and not hard-sell.
Pushy prospecting efforts turn off potential buyers and destroy any chance you have for building a long-term relationship with them. Keep in mind that prospecting is NOT finding strangers and trying to sell them your product. Rather, it is planting seeds to let people know who you are, what you do, and where you work…while you gather their contact information in order to build a master list for future follow-up and sales efforts.

6. Transform your role from a vendor to a resource.
A vendor is someone you hear from strictly when they want to sell you something. A resource also wants to sell you something, but they bring reciprocal value to the relationship to create win/wins. From time to time, send or bring a relevant article, website link, etc. to a prospect that will add value to their business or life.

7. Give people a reason to ask for you.
Be memorable, in a positive way! What makes you different? What makes you better? You’ve got about ten seconds to communicate this to your prospect. Determine your personal value proposition. Have you been at your business for a long time? Do you have specialized knowledge in a certain area? Do you offer customers something special that no one else offers? Put this type of differentiation to work for you.

8. Give people a reason to buy NOW!
You should plant this seed in general terms when first meeting a prospect and then follow up with more specificity and urgency after your initial contact. This, “one-two” combination for transforming buyers from immobility and indifference to ready and willing is essential to capitalizing on the momentum of your initial contact and increase the chances of seeing faster results from your efforts.

9. Chart your results and set goals for improvement.
If you don’t measure and track your progress, you are unlikely to stick with your prospecting efforts. Tangible results will make a believer out of you. They will also offer clues for improving your efforts or reinforcing strategies that are already working for you. Once you track your progress for ninety days, you’ll have a benchmark to set intelligent goals for the future.

10. Always try to turn one deal into two or more.
Maximize your friends, prospects, and sold customers by gaining a referral from them that will serve to fill the empty slot in your pipeline and replace each customer that you sell.

Peak performance author, columnist, trainer and speaker for sales and leadership, Dave Anderson walks the talk of a leader. He has led some of the most successful retail automotive dealerships in the country; most recently heading up a dealership with more than $300 million sales. Dave gives more than a hundred speeches, presentations and workshops all over the world and has delivered his leadership message in 13 countries. Dave has written nine books and writes a monthly leadership column for two national magazines. He is president of the Dave Anderson Corporation and LearntoLead.  Visit his website at http://www.learntolead.com