Sales prospecting: the new tool to search for and find clients

Before prospecting existed, sales enablement was in its infancy when the first official Yellow Pages directory was created in 1886. Telephone directories containing some business phone numbers had already been in production for a few years. In 1883, a printer in Cheyenne, USA, ran out of white paper and used yellow paper instead. Soon after, the term Yellow Pages started to gain popularity. Easy access to a list of phone numbers for people and businesses was a huge benefit for salespeople looking for new leads in their territory. This is how sales prospecting was born.

What is sales prospecting?

Sales prospecting is the process of initiating and developing new business by seeking out potential clients, customers, or buyers for your products or services. The goal is to move these prospects through various stages until they become revenue-generating clients.

How do you do sales prospecting?

1. Research your prospect and their company to determine if you can add value.

2. Prioritize your prospects based on their likelihood of becoming a client.

3. Prepare a personalized pitch for each prospect.

4. Create the perfect first contact—and make sure to help, not just sell.

5. Refine your prospecting process to understand what you can improve.

Personalize your sales prospecting

1. Research your prospect and their company to see if you can add value.

This is by far the most important aspect when doing sales prospecting. We need to ensure we qualify our prospects to increase our chances of bringing them value or helping their business. At this stage of sales prospecting, we aim to achieve a few objectives:

• Determine if the prospect is interesting.
• Qualify and start ranking prospects by priority.
• Find opportunities to build a direct connection through personalization.
• Build mutual trust.

2. Rank your prospects based on their likelihood to buy

Not all prospects have the same value; ranking them can save you a lot of time. You can then focus your efforts on those most likely to become clients.

You don’t want to fall into a vicious cycle of spending too much time on clients who aren’t worth it. Not only does it bring nothing, but it’s also very demotivating.

The priority you give your clients is up to you. A good tip is to classify them based on their likelihood to buy, then dedicate your time to just one category.

3. Make your sales pitch unique for each prospect

First, it’s important to understand and pinpoint what will interest your prospects. This part is about gathering exhaustive information on your prospects to create a relevant and compelling approach.

There are different ways to do this:

• Check their social media to distinguish their profile.
• The “About Us” section on company websites often has valuable information.
• If they write articles or have a blog, it’s worth reading what they publish.

Once your research is done, the next step is to find a common point—something that will allow you to connect. Did the prospect visit your website? What keywords did they use? If you’re a perfectionist and like to leave nothing to chance, put yourself in their shoes. Once you do, ask yourself: what are their goals, what are they looking for?

Thanks to this step, you’ll be able to easily counter any objections from your prospects. Your pitch will be personalized and impactful, responding to what they’re seeking from you. The final step is to analyze and understand where your competitors stand.

You need to be aware of your strengths—what you can offer them. Also, know your weaknesses and where the competition is better than you; this will give you a way to improve and become as complete as possible.

4. Your goal is to help, not just to sell

No matter how you approach your prospect, it must be relevant to what they’re looking for. Here’s what to remember in your sales prospecting when contacting your prospect:

• Be anchored in their present. Make sure and check that the issue you’re proposing to solve is still current.

• You’re not in a seller’s position, but someone looking for a win-win agreement. For one, it’s the end of a problem; for the other, financial compensation.

• Don’t be robotic. No one wants to talk to someone cold who only cares about their own profit.

• Be concrete and direct. The help you offer could be just for this person and no one else on earth.

5. Repeat your sales prospecting process to see what you can improve

Take notes throughout this process to evaluate which activities generated value and which wasted time.

After each contact with a prospect, we should assess our effectiveness; did I:

• Highlight the challenges
• Help create well-defined goals
• Confirm budget availability
• Understand the decision-making process
• Determine the consequences of inaction
• Identify the potential results of success

This self-reflection will help us improve our sales prospecting techniques in the future.