Prospecting the Key to Your Future Success

After spending the last 23 years of my life in Sales, I decided to write this book on a topic that has plagued salespeople regardless of industry for generations. Every business in society has one goal; to generate revenue. For business to thrive, products and services have to be sold. For something to be sold, a customer has to be identified and convinced into making an appointment, reviewing a product, sitting through a presentation, or simply agreeing to try out the salesperson’s product. Whatever the end result, identification of the customer is paramount to a positive outcome.
As a salesperson and ultimately as a Director of Sales, or as I like to call it a Sales Coach; I found the one thing that creates anxiety in every salesperson is PROSPECTING! These 10 letters can send even the most experienced, savvy salespeople into a re-prioritization mode. “As soon as I finish these things on my To Do List, I’m going to start prospecting for new business.” This anxiety is not a function of experience or the lack thereof. It is inherent in the human makeup. Prospecting deals with a range of emotions that many of us would rather not encounter. Rejection, frustration, and the feeling of running in place and not getting anywhere are all issues and emotions that give salespeople anxiety.
Many times prospecting is unfairly linked to straight cold calling. Cold calling is the function of picking up the phone and calling the first name on the list, or the screen, and reading a script or making it up as you go along. Sometimes it means just showing up on a potential client’s doorstep in an attempt to turn a prospect into a customer. While cold calling is one aspect of prospecting, it is one of the most ineffective. As we will discuss later, it’s a very hit or miss philosophy. Prospecting should be strategic and follow an identification process, similar to the old TV series Colombo, where actor detective Peter Faulk used a myriad of tactics to piece together the puzzle in an effort to turn suspects into prospects and eventually into customers of the judicial system.
The obstacles that are encountered as you go through the prospecting process are outlined. We will address and recommend proven tactics to diffuse the many issues that arise as we accomplish our objective. Once we understand why it’s necessary to prospect and commit to it, we must identify the obstacles and learn the ways to overcome them. Areas addressed in this volume include effective use of the phone system which I refer to as the Prospecting Bermuda Triangle. The recommendations will describe ways of dealing with voice mail, plus choosing the words to leave a powerful message that will increase your chances of getting a call back.
The discussions that follow will provide strategies for dealing with the human being; Gatekeeper charged with the task of screening calls for the prospect and deflecting the unarmed sales solicitor. This book will also provide a discussion of strategies surrounding the act of making the call, what do I do, how do I get the information I need? Last, we will discuss post-call follow-up; the process of ending the call and beginning the newly cultivated relationship. Handling this correctly can get your new relationship off to a great start. Handling it incorrectly will send a negative signal that requires an inordinate amount of time to overcome.
The purpose of writing “Prospecting: The Key to Your Future Success” is to give readers that Colombo like attitude and ammunition needed to tackle the task that makes every salesperson grimace. This book will give you some ideas of what to expect and the “How Tos” of dealing with those issues as you chart the course to sales success. Some inspirational excerpts have been added that have helped me over the years. I wish you all the best!
“Prospecting is the Key to Your Future Success!”