The Secret to Highly Effective Prospecting by Pat Ryan

Posted on Nov 29, 2016 in Blog, Meeting/Event Planning, Principles of Success, Training and HR

It’s not news to say that everyone wants better results from their prospecting efforts.  But, HOW do we make it Render of a CRM Funnel Chart. happen?

  • How will you meet your corporate sales goals this year?
  • Are you talking to enough targeted prospects on a weekly or monthly basis?
  • How can you increase results from your team’s prospecting efforts?

Your sales reps are already working hard – making calls, writing proposals, and sending follow up emails to move leads through the sales pipeline.  But…do they have sufficient time for prospecting?

In “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Steven R. Covey presents principles that can lead to the achievement of successful projects, businesses, lives, etc…

First, let’s take a quick look at a few of Covey’s principles, then determine how they apply to sales prospecting efforts.

1.      “Begin with an END in mind”

As a sales/marketing executive, your charter is to increase revenue by making sales.  This is the “end” that you need to focus on.  Everything you do should be bringing you closer to achieving that end.  To accomplish this goal, the first and most fundamental task you must perform is to CREATE A FLOW OF qualified PROSPECTS, or fill the sales pipeline.  Without prospects there are no sales.  So, for our example, this is the “END in mind.”

2.      “Be Proactive”

To be proactive in filling your sales pipeline, you have to GO GET prospects.  You can’t wait for them to come to you.  You have to reach out to contact potential new customers.  A combination of methods should be used to achieve this, including the most basic tool at your disposal: Outbound calling. It’s not fancy.  It’s not glamorous.  But, it works. And, if you send a quality value-added e-newsletter FIRST, then call on the “click-throughs” – your “cold call” will be immediately turned into a “warm call” because you’ve already provided them with free value!

3.      “Put First Things First”

Most successful people have a prioritized list of things to accomplish every day.

So, how does one choose which to do?  Put first things first: Do the most important things on your list FIRST. Prioritize your list by first doing those things that bring you closer to achieving your goals quickly.

In sales, this means MAKING CALLS.

Now, while we know sales people may be the MOST CAPABLE ones to do the prospecting, they are also:

  • The LAST ones who want to do it – and
  • The LAST ones with the TIME to do it!

Why? Because sales people are always busy working on TODAY’S needs:

  • Responding to requests for proposals and/or requests for information
  • Preparing and making sales presentations
  • Working with and closing existing prospects
  • Managing EXISTING customers
  • Attending Sales/Forecast Meetings
  • Plus, a lot more!

We all know that prospecting is extremely time consuming – particularly when using sub-par lists (where lots of “drilling down” is required to locate the decision makers). As a matter of fact, did you know that while prospecting:

  • 75% of the time is spent LOOKING FOR the right person
  • Only 25% of the time is spent communicating with the decision maker (if you’re lucky!)

Typically, the LAST thing a sales person is going to do is make cold calls. Everyone KNOWS they should be making cold calls to proactively build their sales pipeline – but it still doesn’t get done on a consistent basis.

But, don’t you need your sales pipeline to be built consistently?

… to provide new opportunities to the sales people?

… to feed your sales forecast consistently?

… to grow sales?

The answer is YES.  This contradiction is doomed to wreak havoc in your organization.  If your sales cycle is six months, then you’ll feel today’s weak pipeline efforts down the line – in six months!

What can you do about it?

Make prospecting EASIER and LESS TIME CONSUMING!

If your sales people must be the ones who cold call, then at least give them what they need to get the job done efficiently. Give them a PREMIUM list of corporate training & HR decision maker contacts. The MTG Market Intelligence database offers the information you need:

Using the Mentor Tech Group database will reduce the time it takes to prospect by 75%, making it more likely for your reps to finally do the much-needed prospecting work!

The enormous amount of time formerly spent “drilling for decision makers” will be freed up to move forward with CALLING PROSPECTS and completing other important sales tasks.

This will pay huge dividends down the line as your sales people can now focus on what they are BEST at – and WHAT THEY WANT TO DO: CLOSE business!

What if you ignore this?

Doing nothing – and continuing to expect your sales people to produce their own leads using less-than-adequate calling sources, is NOT a proactive strategy for growth.  It is an attempt to get more with LESS. At best, it is a strategy that is doomed to fail – resulting in weak pipeline development, a weak sales forecast, and WEAK SALES.

In the spirit of beginning with an END in mind, consider for a moment: What is the end you are trying to achieve?  Is your “end” to get more with less?  Or is your “end” is to grow your sales pipeline and your sales?  This challenge is yours to conquer.

It’s time to do something about it…  For a list of corporate training & HR decision-makers, call us today. We can help.

To start saving money, contact us today at (651) 457-8600, Ext. 3. We’re here to help, whenever you’re ready!

 

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