The way we look for sales prospects has changed. Luckily, you can adapt.
Increasing your network via social selling is a great way to maximize the prospecting process, but only if you reach the right prospects with a compelling message.
Extensive targeting is just the beginning of the prospecting journey—the lifeblood of your sales pipeline—so in this week’s top content roundup, we’ll take a look beyond targeting to see how your sales team can become sales prospecting experts.
Is It Sales or Stalking?
This week’s first post comes from Benjamin Noble, Communication Manager at NewVoiceMedia. Noble defines four behaviors that separate successful sales prospecting from social media stalking.
“No one likes a creepy sales paparazzi, badgering customers and skulking around leads instead of acting as a trusted friend and advisor,” Noble concludes. He continues, “Prowlers feign interest to obtain relationships. Sales leaders ask real questions and uncover meaningful connections.”
Let genuine interest, information, consideration, and tact guide your online prospecting efforts.
20+ Highly Effective Prospecting Methods [Infographic]
Our next article, from HubSpot staff writer Aja Frost, lists 20 different ways to increase your online prospecting potential using social selling. There’s even an infographic.
The problem with refining your prospecting process to qualified leads is the ever increasingly granular complexity. Frost argues, “When you prioritize lead quality over quantity, prospecting becomes far more effective. But it also gets more complex.”
Luckily, this infographic gives you a jumping off point that doesn’t include cold calling.
The 3-Minute Prospecting Workout
If cold calling is still your prospecting method of choice, this simple 3-minute prospecting workout from Paul Castain, might be all you need to increase the volume and quality of your sales prospects.
1. At the beginning of the day, leave yourself a 30 second prospecting voicemail
2. Focus on recent relevant talking points
3. Analyze the voicemail during the middle of the day
4. Make notes for ways to improve
5. Leave another voicemail at the end of the day
6. Repeat tomorrow
Castain emphasizes the power of small consistent practice, concluding that if you perform this 3-minute exercise every day, you’ll accumulate over an hour of steady sales prospecting practice every month. Consistency over time equals results.
Decision Maker Insights for Sales Professionals
This week’s final piece is a downloadable tipsheet from LinkedIn aimed at improving your prospecting skills. The information and corporate case study contained within will help your sales team “learn as much as possible about your prospect before you conduct outreach.”
The tipsheet focuses on “gathering intelligence on prospective clients” and “identifying decision makers and influencers” at the outset of your outreach strategy. Download the Decision Maker Insights for Sales Professionals tipsheet and prospect more effectively right from the start.
The Right Prospects are Worth the Effort
Sales prospecting requires patience, focus, targeting, and tact. The biggest net might catch the most fish, but it’s awfully hard to haul in. Take the time to cultivate the proper attitude and approach in your sales team, and the right prospects will flow into your sales funnel quarter after quarter.
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