Ten Commandments of Sales Prospecting

Ten Commandments of Sales Prospecting

Ten Commandments of Sales Prospecting
Prospecting is something many salespeople dread and avoid. Although there’s no secret formula to make prospecting easy, these Ten Commandments can lead to prospecting success.

1. Make an appointment with yourself. Prospecting requires discipline. It’s too easy to put it off. Solution: force yourself to prospect for one hour every day.

2. Make as many calls as possible. Research your target audience to be sure you reach the best prospects. That way, each call will be a high quality call. And, because you’re dealing with quality leads, more is always better than less.

3. Make your calls brief. Your objectives are to introduce your project or service and to get an appointment. It should take only two or three minutes to do so. Then, find out about the prospect’s needs and provide him with a good reason to meet you.

4. Be prepared with a list of names. Don’t waste your prospecting hour trying to find the names you need. That might make you feel busy but you won’t make a lot of calls.

5. Work without interruption. Like any other repetitive task, the more you prospect the better you’ll be at it. After you “get into the groove”, take advantage of your momentum. You’ll find that each call will go better than the last.

6. Call during off-peak hours. Conventional wisdom says call between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm. But that doesn’t always work. Solution: Switch or supplement. Try calling between 8:00 and 9:00 am or between 5:00 and 6:30 pm.

7. Vary your call times. We’re all creatures of habit. So, your prospects probably attend the same meeting every Monday at 10:00 am. If you can’t reach a prospect, learn from your lack of success and call her some other time of the day.

8. Be organized. Keep a record of whom you called, when, and who you spoke to about what. It will help you when you finally get an appointment. It’ll also help you keep track of whom you’re supposed to call back, and when.

9. See the end before you begin. Establish your goal, then develop a plan to get there. If your goal is to get the appointment, your plan – your cold call script should be designed and redesigned to help you achieve your goal.

10. Don’t stop. Persistence is one of the key skills every successful salesperson shares. Remember, most sales are closed after the fifth call. Most salespeople quit after the first.

One more thing to consider…..Need a “911” Strategy Session? If you are struggling with sales and/or keep running into the same obstacles and issues, reach out and schedule a 30 minute complimentary call with me. You never know…it could change your sales results and bottom line. This session is an opportunity for me to ask questions and learn where you are in your business, where you want to go, and what might be holding you back.

PS. THIS IS NOT A FREE COACHING CALL. That would be irresponsible of me to offer you, as change doesn’t happen overnight, and certainly can’t happen on one phone call. This is purely a chance for us to get to know each other, see where you are in your business, and see if it makes sense to work together. I want to serve you deeply, and in order to do that, we need to have a frank conversation about your business first.