Sales prospecting is about contacting your audience to encourage them towards a sale. In the era of the internet, there are endless prospect techniques through different channels. From social media to cold calling, the mediums are limitless. But without a proper strategy, you will struggle to make sales.
Prospecting allows you to identify consumers that are a good fit for your business. These prospects are the people that need your product to solve their problems. Stats show that over 70% of buyers want to hear from the salesperson in the buying process.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at six sales prospecting tips that will get your sales moving.
1) Ask for Referrals
Getting referrals is one of the most effective prospecting strategies. It is because word-of-mouth is perceived as one of the most reliable sources. The Stats shows that many customers trust the recommendations of close friends and family.
Your best sources of referrals are your current and past clients. Only reach out to the clients with who you have the best working relationship. The best time to ask for referrals is after you have helped them achieve a big milestone.
2) Use Marketing Automation
In this face-paced era, make automation your best friend. Whenever you find yourself working on a large prospecting pool, the need to stay organized and compact becomes essential. Save resources by using tools like CRM and social media for lead generation.
While prospecting may require plenty of manual work. But automation will help reduce your workload significantly. It enables you to generate a list of targeted prospects with their verified contact in a matter of clicks. Marketing automation will save you from manual data scraping that most marketers find mundane.
You can run automated outbound campaigns that require little check and balance. It is perfect for a large-scale marketing campaign since you can’t reach out to thousands of prospects looking for your product.
3) Build an Ideal Prospect Profile
You will find different types of people, industries, and companies that make it hard for you to know where to start. Therefore, you should allocate some of your time to create a customer profile.
Doing so will help you get to know which leads you should target. Stats show that over 50% of your prospects are not a good fit for the product you sell. Therefore, it is essential to prepare a targeted approach by prospect profiling.
4) Create and Share Valuable Content
To be seen as a thought leader in the industry, you should start making and sharing content. Displaying your content and educating prospects will create an element of trust between you and them. Establishing trust will translate into a sale since they will keep you in mind before purchasing.
A popular strategy is to start your blog and guest post on other websites or magazines. Moreover, you can also make videos and podcasts to show your expertise. Platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube can help you get started.
5) Connect with Prospects Directly
One of the common ways to connect with prospects is through phone calls. Especially in the B2B context, the response is decent. And with the help of omnichannel, you can elevate your prospecting game.
Reach prospects through different mediums such as text messages and emails. Moreover, you can also include a chat widget on your blog to answer any of their quarries. Don’t just stick to only phone calls but explore other options, which will help improve user experience.
6) Keep Improving on Sales Tactics
For effective results, you should always stay consistent. Even after a successful call, don’t think the work is complete. Since there is always room for improvement, figure out how to improve. Start by examining which strategies worked and which did not.
Also, ensure to send a follow-up after a sale to build a reliable relationship with the customers. Ask them about their overall experience with the business. Incorporate the feedback into your work to further improve prospecting.
Final Thoughts
Prospecting is not easy. It requires commitment and hard work to reap the benefits. But with the right strategy and mindset, prospecting will become a seamless process. As you grow, you will slowly establish yourself as a thought leader.
