Sometimes we are surprised by how effective or ineffective our prospecting abilities are. On some occasions, it seems we hit gold on every call. On others, we can’t give our products or services away.

There’s Not As Much Mystery As You May Think
We are tempted to think of the unpredictable nature of prospecting as being determined by the whims of the sales gods. It all depends on their mood, we think. There are other times when we perceive our prospecting skills to be dependent on our mood, maybe our “vibe” is bad.

6 Sales Tips For Conquering The Fickle Nature Of Prospecting
Surprise is an important barometer of how in tune you are with your prospective customers. If you are frequently surprised by your prospecting successes or failures – especially over an extended period – then you probably have a straightforward issue that can be addressed. I’ll address six of these issues below.

Most of the time when we struggle with prospecting, we don’t understand why. Ironically, the same can be true when we are successful in prospecting. Answer the following six questions in order to help remove the veil of unpredictability when developing new business.

1. Do you work from a qualified list of prospects or do you just call a list of names? Studies show that upfront research to qualify prospects always has a bigger payoff than just contacting large numbers of unqualified prospects.
2. What kind of record keeping system do you have? You can’t maintain a large funnel or pipeline without good records.
3. Do you prospect at certain times of the day that work best in your industry? For that matter, do you prospect every day?
4. Not everyone uses your products or services. Is the prospect you’re calling a good candidate for the products or services you sell?
5. Have you done your due diligence to identify the right decision maker(s)? Contacting the wrong person at the right company can be a waste of everyone’s time and potentially create a permanently lost opportunity.
6. Are you contacting the right size companies? Too small and they’ll be a waste of your time – too large and you might not be able to realistically meet their needs.

Sales Blog Wrap Up
There is no voodoo when it comes to prospecting. If your close ratios are erratic or your results are unpredictable, ensure that you have the six items above under control to make your prospecting efforts more consistent.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Related posts:

1. Sales Tips: What is Cycle Prospecting or Perpetual Prospecting?
2. Why Your Prospecting Efforts Bomb
3. Prospecting By Going-Through-The-Motions, Part 2 of 4

Tags: habits, Prospecting, prospects

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