Improve your prospecting with these seven tips.
Turning back time, I can only think of Cher’s song.
If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I’d take back those words that have hurt you
And you’d stay
I was thinking about us turning our clocks back an hour for daylight savings. I have to share that I am not a fan of losing an hour of sunlight at the end of the day, and hoping this law gets changed next year.
We may not be able to control turning our clocks back, but we can make sure our sales don’t fall backward. I have seven prospecting tips to keep your sales moving forward.
Spend time with your current clients.
We have to make sure we don’t take our existing clients for granted. It took time and energy to earn their business, so we need to ensure we are providing solutions to their most significant business needs—scheduling time to meet and discuss how we can help them. We have opportunities to up-sell and grow our current accounts.
Schedule time to Identify new clients.
Discover new clients that you can help.
Prospecting is easy to neglect, and every day, something will steal your time from building your business. That’s why the best reps set aside a block of time to prospect every day and week and hold themselves accountable for doing it.
Create better systems and processes.
Atomic Habits author James Clear sums this up. “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
Take the time to review how you gain new clients. Do you have a system and process you go through before contacting that client? For example, what do your current clients have in common? Sales volume of the companies you are prospecting? Do you have a referral process? What process can you create to earn that first conversation? You will have to pick up the phone several times or send a certain number of emails to get the needed responses. The goal is to develop an effective process to prospect efficiently.
Create a balance between quantity and quality.
This one seems like a no-brainer, but it’s worth saying: Great prospectors know their company’s ideal buyer profiles. They can spot companies similar to their best customers and recognize activity patterns by decision-makers that indicate it’s the right time to reach out.
It’s essential to be discerning enough that you’re not calling everybody — a waste of time — but fast enough that you don’t spend half your day prospecting.
When you schedule meetings with better-fit leads — ones with a legitimate need for or interest in your offering. Good-fit customers generally provide more long-term business.
Avoid meetings with just anybody.
While booking meetings is the ultimate goal of prospecting, you need to ensure they’re good meetings — otherwise, it’s just a waste of your time to move prospects through the sales process. The goal is to understand if your specific point of contact is the right person to speak to if they have a perceived need.
Build social media into your routine.
Yes, there is a benefit to having a Linkedin profile and other social channels. It’s your online personal resume that showcases your experience. Update your recommendations on your profile to highlight your ability to help other companies. One additional advantage is that you can read posts that may suggest a prospect is having an issue, they launched a new product that needs marketing, they need to hire additional help, and recruitment is your expertise.
You understand the difference between No and Not Yet.
Earning a new client’s business can be all about timing. In many cases, they may be happy with their current vendor. Great salespeople understand that it is a timing situation. So they ask follow-up questions to make sure it’s a timing issue. For example, ask for feedback. What factors do you consider when working with a new vendor? When do you review new partnerships? How can you stay in touch until that time? This way, you get a clear picture of what is essential to that prospect. Is it price, relationship, transparency, and follow-up?
I encourage you to schedule time on your calendar to review your systems and processes to better prospecting. So that way, you won’t be singing Cher’s song: If I could turn back time.
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Learn more about Simplifying Your sales meetings using 3-word topics at http://www.threewordmeetings.com.