This is our first lesson on prospecting. This lesson discusses the importance of sales prospecting and gives you a general breakdown of the Prospect Factory approach as well as additional information that may be of help to you regarding prospecting in general. More detailed information is provided in the actual book itself, but this information will help to get you started!
Let’s start by giving you my definition of prospecting. Simply put,
“Prospecting is the process of finding new and potential buyers for the products and services you sell.”
New business is the lifeblood of any business or sales career. No business stays in the same place for long. Eventually, you are either growing with new business, or you are going backwards. Something people hear me say a lot is that,
“…prospecting is one of the most important yet most difficult tasks a sales or self-employed person must do in order to achieve success.”
I also like to point out that there is no such thing as a successful salesperson who has not somehow solved the problem of prospecting.
How important is prospecting?
The better the prospecting is, the more successful the salesperson or business will tend to be. Having enough prospects is like playing blackjack with 50 poker chips versus being down to your last two chips. If you have a stack of 50 chips, betting one chip doesn’t seem all that important – but when you’re down to your last two chips, each chip becomes critical. Make a couple of poor bets, and the game is over.
When a salesperson does not have enough prospects:
- The pain from sales rejection is magnified.
- Too much is expected from poor prospects.
- Sales leads seem more scarce than they really are.
- It causes unreasonable fear of the loss of current business because of the high degree of difficulty in replacing it.
- It causes a tendency to oversell the few leads available, and it makes it all the more distressing when a potential sale is lost.
On the other hand, when a salesperson has many prospects:
- It greatly increases confidence and belief in the chances of success.
- It lowers overall sales pressure and reduces stress.
- It makes it easier to let go of weaker sales opportunities.
- It makes it easier to be objective and pursue the best interests of prospects.
- It lays a foundation for healthy long-term business and promotes future business growth.
A salesperson with a generous number of prospects who loses or turns away a sale, can think, “This prospect didn’t end up becoming a customer, but that’s O.K. because I know some of the other prospects on my long list of prospects will buy.” Versus thinking, “If this prospect doesn’t buy, then who will? This is one of my only sales leads. How am I going to find more buyers? I’ve just got to close this sale.”
Learn How to Manufacture Prospects
So if we agree prospecting is important, what are we to do about it? There are a lot of approaches to prospecting, but let me tell you how I approached – and solved – the problem of prospecting. I compare the method of prospecting I use to a “factory” because it is so systematic. New prospect names are put in one end of the system and carefully processed through a series of steps that result in the production of currently interested, qualified sales leads at the end of the line. The process is low-pressure and is largely unemotional. It requires few intangibles such as personality, charm, persuasiveness, good looks or a strong natural market. However, it does require some hard work!
In a nutshell, the system I use for prospecting encompasses the following steps:
- Think about what you are selling. Formulate a general description of who buys your products or services and where they are located.
- Create an initial prospect list based on the general description of your buyer. Ideally this list contains thousands of names, but a smaller list could be used depending on the circumstances.
- Gently interact with the prospects on your list. Focus on establishing the level of current interest. Use phone work – when permitted, trade shows, personal contact, personal observation, seminars, surveys, etc. As you interact with the prospects on your list, some prospects will reveal themselves to be currently interested in what you are selling.
- Collect useful information during the interaction process (such as future buying dates, permission email information, buyer preferences, etc.). Keep this information in a computer database that you backup often. Endeavour to identify and mark for future reference the better quality prospects you encounter.
- Systematically send proactive correspondence (i.e. direct mail that prompts, “complete and return if you’re interested”) by various means to the prospects you have identified as being of better quality. Send out this correspondence on a predetermined and recurring schedule.
Over time, currently interested prospects will re-contact you via the correspondence you have sent out.
The numbers of sales leads generated from direct interaction and returned correspondence are combined. The total ends up being a substantial number of currently interested prospects. By working the system consistently and incrementally, leads emerge in a steady and manageable stream. In the future, disqualified leads are set aside, and the initial list is refreshed by adding new prospect names as they become available.
Task Oriented Prospecting
Most people who quit sales or had to give up on a business that they started were good, hardworking people who had fine products and services to sell. All of them wanted to succeed, but ultimately they did not. In my opinion, the main reason for failure was because of an inability to find enough new good quality prospects. Seek a means of prospecting that is task oriented and systematic in nature – like a factory. Once you get your factory up and running, you will be able to create opportunities for yourself for many years to come!
This ends Sales Prospecting Lesson One – I hope it was informative! The next lesson will follow in a few days. Lesson Two begins the process of breaking down the bullet-point-steps listed above so you will have a clearer view of what I mean by systematic prospecting.
At any time you can get the full blown version of Prospect Factory with an even more detailed description by ordering the book!
For now, thank you for your interest! Again, I hope this information was helpful,
Sincerely,
Ted Stevenot
PS. If you know of anyone else who might benefit from this information, send him or her a link to this page. Thanks, again!
