Most people think of prospecting as an essential job function of salespeople. However, very few people understand what it really is. Out of all the sales skills, it’s important to be able to prospect for new clients. What makes a highly successful prospector? It’s more than just working hard. Here are some habits of highly successful prospectors and how you can develop them to become more successful at prospecting.
Make the transition to full-time prospecting
Have you ever had a successful business and then decided to close it? If you did and the reasons were not the lack of sales, you did a good job. I know, because I did it too. However, there is a big difference between me and you. I did it only after I had found another one that was more profitable. I did it for the money, and you can do it too. The more successful you get, the more you realize that it is all about money. You see your competitors getting more and more, while your profits stay the same or even decrease. You try to find new clients, but they are hard to find and even harder to convince you to work with them. So, what do you do? You can change your business and try to find a new niche that you can dominate. That might work. However, if you do not want to change your business, you need to change your strategy. You need to switch from a seller to a prospector.
Nobody wants to hear it. Yet, everyone knows it: if you want to grow and build more wealth and opportunity, then you have to get out of your job and start prospecting for new business. Still, the number of people who actually make this transition is relatively small. We wanted to know why so we asked a few of the most successful prospectors we know why they made the transition and how they made it work. Below, we share some of the habits of successful prospectors we learned from these conversations.
Take your prospecting to the next level
A successful prospector has a lot of habits and traits in common. Here, we’ll take a look at some habits and traits you can adopt to improve your prospecting and selling efforts. 1. The best prospectors make it a habit to plan their week. They plan their prospecting and selling activities for each day of the week and they stick to those plans. 2. The best prospectors make it a habit to share their data and keep their data organized. They can easily find information on past activities and past clients. 3. The best prospectors make it a habit to look for ways to improve their results. They review their performance and take action to improve their results. 4. The best prospectors make it a habit to set and achieve goals. They set and achieve goals for their prospecting and selling efforts. 5. The best prospectors make it a habit to be coachable and teachable. They seek the advice and mentoring of others.
Have clear goals for each appointment
One of the habits of highly successful prospectors is that they have clear goals for each appointment. They understand that the key to success is to get results, not just appointments. They know that setting goals allows them to focus on the most important tasks and minimizes time-wasting. But how do you set goals? How do you set goals for each appointment? One way is to decide what the most important result for this appointment is. This might be to get an agreement to see your product or service or to get an agreement to meet for a free demonstration. The goal could be to get a referral. The goal might be to get feedback on your product or service.
Go beyond the qualification stage
There are many different opinions on what the qualification stage is. Some companies refer to it as the “qualifying stage” while others think it means the “closing stage. However, the qualification stage is the time when you know whether or not you want to do business with a prospect. Your prospect might be qualified if he or she has bought something similar to what you are selling. If this is the case, you can often skip the qualification stage and jump right into the selling stage. When you are qualifying your prospect, you can use things like questions and objections to help you determine whether or not the prospect is the right person to buy from you.
Build relationships with your clients
Building relationships with future clients is the key to success as a prospector. You may be familiar with the saying “It’s not always what you know, it’s about who you know.” If you want to be successful as a prospector, you need to realize that It’s not always what you know, it’s about who you know. If you’re a prospector, you’re probably a good talker. The right words come very easy to you. The question is, do you know how to connect those words to your prospects? How do you turn them into clients? It’s not always what you know, it’s about who you know.
Over the years, I have noticed that some people are very good at building relationships with their clients. Some are so good that they are able to turn their clients into their best friends. They are able to do this even when the clients are not in the same state or country. I have noticed that some of them are so good at relationship building that they are able to get the clients to do the prospecting for them.
Keep your pipeline full
When prospecting for new clients, one of the most common goals is to have a full pipeline. It’s easier to make money when you have more things to do than you have time for. A good prospecting habit is to make sure you always have something in your pipeline. But what exactly is in your pipeline? Prospecting for new business is like fishing in a river. You want to catch the biggest fish possible, but that’s easier said than done. You can’t just throw in your line and wait for the fish to bite. You have to input effort into it. The same is true for prospecting for new business. You’re the fisherman, and the river is your pipeline. What kinds of fish are in the pipeline? What is the best bait to use? What is the best way to catch fish? These questions boil down to three simple answers: Content, Communication, and Confidence.
Even if you are not a sales professional, you do need to prospect to survive in today’s market. The above habits can help you become more successful in your business.