Prospecting is an essential part of any sales process. It brings you leads you can reach out to pitch your products and convince them to buy. But prospecting isn’t just cold-calling — you need to do more than that to get the most out of it.
In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about sales prospecting and practical tips to do it the right way.
What is Sales Prospecting?
Sales prospecting is the process of researching and contacting potential customers. It’s a critical part of a sales funnel because it helps determine if your product or service is a good fit for your target audience. Sales prospecting should be a systematic, organized process that gets you results without taking up too much of your time.
Now that you’ve learned the definition of prospecting in sales. The question is why you need to care about it.
Why is Sales Prospecting Important?
Sales prospecting is a critical part of sales and marketing because it’s the first step in a long, fruitful relationship. It’s how you get your foot in the door — it’s how you start building trust with your potential customer, whether that prospect is a business or an individual.
One thing to emphasize is that when doing sales prospecting, you should be strategic about your approach. You don’t want to waste your time chasing down people who aren’t interested in what you offer.
But at the same time, you also don’t want to cut off any potential clients before they have a chance to see what you can do for them. By having a well-developed sales prospecting strategy, you can increase your chance of landing the prospects you want.
Essential Elements of a Winning Sales Prospecting Strategy
Here are four crucial elements your sales prospecting strategy should have:
1. Solid Insights Into Your Target Audience
The first thing you want to do is get as much information about your target audience as possible. What do they care about? What are their goals? How can your product help them achieve those goals? Where do they hang out online and in person? Do they have any competitors they’re worried about? Knowing what’s going on in your prospect’s world will help you tailor your cold pitch and determine who can become your customers later.
2. Relevant, Useful Resources About Your Product or Service
Resources are another important part of your sales prospecting strategy. You need to have resources available for your prospects so they can learn more about what you’re offering or about what they need help with.
For example, if you’re trying to sell software or an app, a resource might be a demo video that shows how easy it is to use and how much time it saves people who are using it. Documents like white papers or infographics provide more in-depth information about what you’re selling or how it benefits customers in particular situations.
3. Scripts and Canned Responses
A script is a set of prepared questions that will help you ask the right questions when speaking to potential clients. It’s important to have scripts prepared because you can avoid asking questions that don’t matter or falling into awkward silence while you’re on the phone with a prospect.
Besides scripts, you may also want to prepare canned responses. Canned responses are scripts you can use to respond to common objections during sales conversations. They’re a great way to deal with questions you’re unsure about and might need more time to collect information.
4. An Action Plan
One of the most important things to remember about sales prospecting is that it’s a process, not a one-off activity. You need to have a plan for how you’ll find prospects and interact with them, then stick to that plan. You can’t just sit around waiting for potential customers to come to find you because they won’t. You should be proactive about approaching them.
Think about what channels you’ll use (social media, email marketing, cold calling) and how you can develop your credibility on each channel. How many emails or calls should you send per day/week/month? What’s the best time to post on LinkedIn? The more detailed your plan is, the better for your team to follow and take action.
Prospecting Techniques In Sales
Use the following techniques to identify your potential customers:
1. Use Social Media
Social media is effective in seeing who your target audience is and what they’re interested in. You can use tools like Google Analytics or Facebook Insights to find out who views your content, where they live, and websites they visit often. This will help you narrow down who your prospects are so you can focus on them more effectively.
2. Ask for Referrals
A referral is someone who has a connection to another person who might be interested in what you offer. When you ask for referrals, you’re asking someone they trust and who trusts them to recommend your products or services.
- Ask your friends and family for referrals to new customers. They are the best source of information you can access, and they’ll be happy to help you find new business.
- Reach out to people in your industry that are doing well, and ask them if they would mind referring you to a new customer. You can also reach out to people who post about their work on social media and ask them if they would consider recommending you.
- If you have a good relationship with your current clients, they’ll want to refer you to their friends and family members. Ask them if they would be willing to write a review on Yelp or Google+ about your service. You can also offer a discount in exchange for a referral.
3. Cold Calling
Cold calling is a sales technique that involves calling a potential buyer and introducing yourself over the phone. It allows you to have a direct conversation with the buyer and create an emotional connection with them. It enables you to build trust and rapport with someone who may not be familiar with you or your business but could be very interested in what you offer.
4. Cold Emailing
Cold emailing is a great way to contact prospects, especially if you have a large list of potential clients. The key is to ensure your message is personal and tailored to the person you’re writing to—this will increase the chances that they’ll open and read your email and be more likely to reply if they do.
5. Use Social Proof
Social proof is one of the strongest tools in your sales arsenal. It’s an effective way to demonstrate your product works and why someone should buy from you.
You can use social proof in two ways. First, by showing your prospect what people who have purchased from you are saying about their experience. And second, by sharing examples of how other customers have benefited from your product or service.
What is the Next Stage of Sales Prospect?
After you have identified your prospects, the next stage is to qualify them to determine who will likely buy your product or service. This step is crucial because it helps you focus your time and energy on the most likely buyers. Check out this article about sales lead qualification to learn more about this stage.
How to Improve Your Prospecting Process
Whether you’re just starting out with sales prospecting or you’ve been at it for years, there are always new ways to improve your prospecting process.
Here are some tips:
- Use a customer relationship management (CRM) tool to capture and organize your prospects and leads, including information about what they do, who they work with and for, and why they would be a good fit for your company.
- Once you’ve got a list of potential contacts, prioritize them by how close they are to becoming clients. You can do this by considering factors like their occupation, how much money they make, what kind of business they run, how much time they spend online and on social media, etc.
- Set up email alerts for when new leads come in. This will keep you updated with any leads that come through from sources and ensure you can get in touch with them immediately if necessary.
- Send personalized follow-up emails after you’ve connected with someone who seems interested in what you offer.
Sales Prospecting Tools
When it comes to finding new sales prospects, there are many tools available. Some of the best sales prospecting tools include:
1. Revenue Grid
This is the most comprehensive sales prospecting platform out there. It includes tools such as data capture, Salesforce email integration, deal guidance, and more. This makes it easier for you to track all your sales prospects at once without switching between multiple platforms.
Revenue Grid is excellent for analyzing sales data, managing sales pipelines, and identifying the most potential opportunities that can be converted to revenue.
2. SalesLoft
SalesLoft is a cloud-based sales tool that includes CRM functionality and can be installed on most platforms, including Windows, Macs, and iOS devices. It’s easy to use and integrates with other popular apps like Gmail or Slack.
3. Clearbit
Clearbit is an advanced search engine for finding information about people—their personal details and professional history. Using Clearbit will help you understand more about your potential customers, helping you reach out to them more personally and effectively.
Build Your Sales Prospecting Strategy and Find More Qualified Leads
Now, you have a great foundation of tips and strategies to build your prospecting system. Start putting them into practice, and you’ll see improvement in your opportunities to land new customers.
Build your sales prospecting process with Revenue Grid
