The 7 Keys to Prospecting Success
To succeed in the sales profession, a sales professional must master prospecting. Prospecting is one of the most challenging and significant stages of the sales process. A sales professional could be the best presenter in the world but will not experience a lot of success without a pipeline filled with quality prospects. Selling is a numbers game and the more quality prospects a sales representative have, the more chances the representative will have to produce sales. Below are 7 steps to successful prospecting.
Identify Your Target Market: identify market segment(s) where potential customers have a need or problem that can be successfully met by your product offerings. You must also have a deep understanding of your target market to build trust with your potential customers.
Identify Your Potential Prospects: develop a list of potential prospects within your target market. Personal contacts, lead lists, library resources, and the Internet are potential sources you can use.
Screen Your Potential Prospects: qualify your potential customers based on having the authority to make a purchase decision, a need for your product offering, and sufficient financial resources. During the first contact, you may have to fully screen prospects.
Develop a Prospecting Script: create a script to stay focused and persistent as you briefly demonstrate the value you can offer by providing solutions to your prospects' problems. Also create responses for popular objections or rebuttals you expect to encounter.
Determine Initial Contact Medium: determine whether to use referrals, connections, and/or possibly mail to make your initial contact with prospects "warm" instead of "cold".
Contact Your Potential Customers: use your script to ask your prospects for the sale or establish a meeting to conduct a presentation.
Create a Plan and Execute It: develop daily, weekly, and monthly prospecting goals and dedicate time to meet these objectives to ensure you keep a pipeline filled with qualified potential customers.
You will create a solid foundation to an exciting, rewarding, and lucrative sales career by following the 7 steps to prospecting success.