Prospecting Is Essential To Sales Success
With the advent of the internet and growth of inbound marketing, sales 2.0 and social media selling, many supposed sales gurus claim prospecting is passé. Their pitch to us, salespeople, is “never cold call again!”, in my opinion, they are wrong.
“True sales prospecting is creating business. Your job is to identify qualified prospects, help them understand their needs and help them gain confidence in you so they will do business with you.”
Hunter, M. (2012)
For me, prospecting is the most vital, essential in sales. Business plans and targets fail because we do not prospect enough. Sales top performers are passionate about prospecting and qualifying prospects, and they spend as much as 80% of their time on these activities. They use every means available opportunity and means: telephone, email, networking, tradeshows, referrals and simply cold calling.
Sales superstars keep their pipelines full of qualified prospects by following thethree care laws of prospecting:
- The universal law of need. Salespeople who desperately need sales almost always empty pipelines. Salespeople with full pipelines make sales constantly
- The 30-day rule. All the prospecting you do in 30 days will benefit you for the next 90-days
- The law of replacement. Once you make a sale, replace the opportunity with a new one to keep your sales pipeline healthy.
Closing Thought.
Prospecting is essential to sales success, but it can be awkward and difficult. It can be emotionally draining, and you need mental and physical resilience. The best part is that the more you prospect, the easier it is and the more successful you get. (Blount, 2015).
DISCLAIMER. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author, and they are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organisation, company, individual or anyone or anything.