Prospecting is the act of starting and developing a new business by looking for prospective clients, customers, or potential buyers of your services or products. The aim is to guide prospects through the funnel until they become revenue-generating customers.
Why is it essential to prospect sales?
Prospecting helps you find potential customers who are a good fit for your business. This is the process of identifying leads that need the product you offer to address their issues and problems.
It’s highly effective, too. More than 7 out of 10 buyers would like to speak with salespeople early into purchasing, making it more likely for them to be responsive. Eight in ten buyers will attend meetings when a salesperson reaches out first.
Salespeople who perform well in prospecting have a 3X increase in meetings with customers over those that are “low” performers — or who don’t even ever prospect. After you’ve completed prospecting, you’ll be able to meet prospects who are a more suitable fit for the product.
Well-fit customers provide long-term benefits compared to leads who continue to churn after completing a sale. You can spot good-fit customers when you are prospecting by asking the correct questions about sales qualifications to all prospects and leads.
Ways to Reach Out to a Prospect for the First Time
Outreach is vital to ensure that a business is expanding and flourishing. Many sales teams employ a shrewd outreach strategy to keep their sales pipeline full. Yet, dealing with a potential customer successfully the first time is carefully considered.
Who are your prospects? What is their business model? What can you provide them? These are just a few of the most common questions you must be able to answer before reaching out. However, they’re not the only questions to ask. Your customers will have preferences for communication – phone, email, social media, or text messaging which you must be aware of.
Make a list of prospective clients
In the ideal scenario, you should be looking for buyers who are likely to purchase. To achieve this, you must create your list of potential customers from the below sources:
Email Outreach
Sending them an email first will ensure an uninvolved beginning to the conversation. Email doesn’t require the prospect to reply immediately and gives them time to research additional information about your company. It’s expected that you’ve conducted your research before when you sent an email. Be aware that, according to MailChimp, the ideal timing to mail an email would be between p.m. between 2 and 5 p.m.
The initial email to set up an appointment for later, in case your customers prefer. Emails are great when trying to introduce prospects to your proposition. You must ensure you’ve communicated your message and that your overall message is powerful enough to entice them. You’re ready to initiate the first phone call when they are receptive to your messages.
There is, however, an exemption to the rule of first emailing. If your potential customers are already aware of your business and product, contacting them first could be more efficient. In any other situation where you must introduce yourself and describe your services, an email will likely be an option better than a phone call.
Referrals
Prospecting through referrals is simply a way of contacting people you know, such as your current contacts, business partners, or even clients. Begin with the names of those who might know individuals you wish to connect with (for example, business associates, strategic partners, clients, etc.) and request an introduction.
Social Media Outreach
Cold outreach on social media isn’t the same when a prospect approaches you via Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. In that sense, enticing a warm lead through social media can be an effective sales tool.
If you utilize your network to make an introduction to someone, it will show your professionalism and social skills. This increases the likelihood that the prospective customer will want to deal with you.
If you and your prospects have no connections, don’t be discouraged. Look over their social media profiles and learn from them. The recent post they posted could be excellent to start a conversation.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is communicating to your clients and potential customers without selling. Instead of selling your services or products, it is about providing facts that help make the customers more knowledgeable. By providing valuable and informative information to your clients, you establish a trust level.
Create a qualifying script
Based on your own experience, create a conversational method to inquire, in the initial conversation, what their initial budget is, the authority in spending that budget and whether they need your offer. In most cases, the qualifying scripts are constructed around open-ended questions you can ask during the discussion.
Set reasonable goals for prospecting
Create a goal for the number of prospects you’ll require in your pipeline to make the number of sales you require. For instance, if you have to generate five sales every week and, on average, close one of fifty potential customers, then you’ll need to conduct 250 calls weekly.
Based on the number of your prospects’ calls “go through,” estimate the time required to complete these calls and the amount of time needed to engage in meaningful conversations once you’ve made it to one.
Warm Calling
Warm-calling remains the most efficient method to schedule meetings with the most influential people in the accounts you want to target. If you’re looking to grab your prospects ‘ attention, you need to have something unique to say. So, dig deep to learn about them as you gather sales data.
A wealth of information can be discovered on your prospect’s social profiles and websites, so check them before contacting them. Find most common connections, like the person, a team or interest, or whatever you and your potential customer have in common.
One of the best ways to boost the response rate on hot calls is to use your Double Whammy method. This is when you follow an initial call with a second contact point to the same customer, whether it’s the email address, LinkedIn message, text message, or video. A Double Whammy shows persistence and determination, which buyers claim will grab their focus.
Conclusion
Prospecting doesn’t need to be a tedious and challenging procedure, and it can be an enjoyable experience for prospectors and sales reps. Incorporate a few of these methods in your process and test various techniques and tools to discover the best fit for your staff. After that, you’ll surely see a rise in the number of good-fit potential customers into paid clients.
