I am a firm believer in the idea that about a half dozen things make eighty percent of the difference in almost anything a person does. Take a look at the major issues in life – family, business, relationships, personal development, spiritual development, charity, health, etc. You’ll notice there are always about a half dozen elements in each of these areas that are the most important in terms of successful achievement. Following this idea, what are the critical half dozen items that lead to success in sales prospecting?
I have created such a list, and my list is unique to my own situation. It may work for you, or you may need to modify it a little. I formed my list by identifying one critical item first, and that item was, “making calls.” I knew I needed to make a certain number of calls every week to find enough new prospects to sustain and grow my business. Nearly all of the other elements listed below fell into line due to the realization of that single fact.
Take a look at the following list:
- Understand what you sell and who your buyer is.
- Create a profile that describes your customers from the most average (but is still profitable to work with) to the most above average.
- Gather a list of qualified suspects or prospects that match your customer profile. [Sponsored Link - 100 Free Sales Leads! Find new customers & grow your sales with leads from infoUSA.com.
]
- Interact with your list and work to qualify and engage prospects who are either currently interested or may one day become interested. Store the information you collect in a prospecting database [Psonsored Link - Act! By Sage 2010
] Back-up your data often. [Sponsored Link - Carbonite offers unlimited online backup for your small business for only $54.95/year. Try it free!
]
- Mix your marketing media. Use several means of outreach whenever possible – phone calls [Sponsored Link - Read the how-to prospecting book - Prospect Factory], mail, email [Sponsored Link - Email Marketing and Online Surveys by Constant Contact make it easy to connect with your customers. Try it FREE for 60-Days.
], blogs, youtube, seminars, networking, etc. Try to “touch” prospects on a recurring and disciplined schedule (i.e. once every 60, 90, 120 days, etc.).
- Refresh your list as time goes by. Make it a priority to be constantly on the lookout for new, qualified names to add to your list.
In order to make calls, I needed to know who my buyers were and where they were located. I needed an extensive list so I’d have enough names to call. Interaction was inherent in calling, but the idea to capture information helped me to identify and follow-up with better quality prospects in the future. Mixing media created a better chance of connecting with more prospects on a favorable basis. Lastly, structuring and refreshing the system allowed me to continue outreach over the long term.
So, what are the half dozen critical factors involved in your prospecting? Identifying the one critical item of “making calls” helped lead me to all of the other items on my list. Take some time to think about and identify the critical half dozen things that you must do so that you can move forward with your prospcting.
Originally posted 2009-05-11 05:32:58.
