5 Powerful Sales Prospecting Techniques You Should ALL Be Using

19th October 2017

Believe it or not, even though prospecting plays an important part in new business sales, many sales professionals despise prospecting. Today, a majority of sales professionals use outdated and ineffective sales techniques instead of effective methods that could actually result in higher volume of better qualified leads (and increase the chance of them enjoying prospecting).

Just like every step in a sales process, you need to put in the effort and focus required to get the right output! This is the only way to prospect efficiently so you don’t waste your time on unqualified leads that aren’t suited to your business.

Use these 5 powerful and modern prospecting techniques to allow you to better find leads in which you can nurture and eventually turn into business.

1. Become a subject matter expert.
   If you establish yourself as a thought leader or subject matter expert within your industry you gain credibility and trust before contacting new prospects. Ways in which you can establish yourself as a thought leader include starting a blog, writing guest articles for industry publications, speaking at conferences and understanding what’s new and important to that company you are about to approach.
2. Warm calls.
   That first call with new prospects doesn’t have to be, and in fact shouldn’t be completely cold. It’s very useful and powerful to warm up your prospects before making the initial contact. You can increase your chances of a warmer reception by familiarising the prospect with your name or company before you make your first call or email. Social media being the best and most effective way to do this. Here’s a few ideas that work well; get introduced by a shared connection, comment on a piece of content your prospect has shared on social media, ‘like’ a status update or ‘like’ a job change announcement on LinkedIn.
3. Become that trusted resource.
   To be a successful sales professional, you have to do more than just sell. You need to be that go-to person continuing to give your clients support after you close deals. By combining the positions as salesperson of products and services and provider of solutions you will increase your chance of getting referrals from happy customers. These happy customers can then quite often be called upon when speaking to new prospects. When you become a resource to your clients before and after a sale, they’ll remember your help and will always be willing to help you in return.
4. Construct a basic script.
   For new sales professionals being able to reference a basic script while prospecting can help them reduce uncomfortable pauses, use the right language and be able to respond to common objections. Experienced sales professionals don’t tend to use a script in order to have sound and natural conversations. What they say is very well ingrained in their minds that it comes across sounding natural and unrehearsed. Whether you use or script or not, be sure to have a pen and notebook ready as you need to actively listen to your prospects and customise your conversation based on their needs.
5. Don’t pitch.
   Prospecting is the first step of the sales process but in itself it’s not selling. It’s all about sourcing good quality and qualified leads which can then take their place in the sales pipeline. Once you have followed these steps, you can then begin doing what you do best, selling.

To be successful in today’s sales environment you need to work on building relationships while prospecting. If you start selling too quickly you’ll put pressure on your prospect and end up pushing them away. Building trust and gaining credibility will help you and your prospect become more comfortable with each other which also means once the selling techniques commence they will be more effective. Try not to stick to the same old sales techniques just because that’s what you have always done and are comfortable with. With technology like a CRM and social media, sales techniques have evolved massively. Practice different techniques like the above until you find the right mix of modern and effective methods that support your prospecting efforts and sales goals.