Sales Prospecting at A Glance 

But what is sales prospecting and how does it relate to business productivity? Sales prospecting is the process of searching for your next customer in order to create a business relationship.  To begin the process, a business team member will conduct outreach in the form of calls and emails to convert leads.  Leads are often converted to loyal followers or ambassadors to the business. It’s a great way to nurture leads with interest in your product, service or brand. 

The sales aspect in a business, requires varying strategies to achieve the goal.  Unlike other processes, sales prospecting takes a deep dive into the customer’s journey and identifies winning customer personas.  For these reasons, outbound prospecting and inbound prospecting  includes face-to-face, email, call, letter or a digital experience.  Advance technology like instant messaging is also a key performers medium to achieve prospecting results. 

Sales Prospecting Funnel 

A good sales prospecting process works like a funnel. It begins with a ton of information that you narrow done to the relevant facts and take action. This includes identifying leads and opportunities that qualify the buyer’s experience. buying preference, diverse behavior, market movement, demographics, needs and wants, and other aspects that dictate the customer’s buyer experience.  All of this leads to sifts positive leads, financial capabilities and pertinent information affecting purchasing power of customers. 

Many believe that the end-game of sales prospecting is converting customers.  However, a closer look will tell entrepreneurs, and their teams, that the Internet negates such assumptions.   With the evolving market today, sales prospecting no longer stops at acquiring new customers or clients but focuses more on creating personalized, flexible and sustainable relationships. And like a proverbial movement in a funnel, it can be painstakingly slow.  However, the time investment will prove to increase business productivity.

Addressing Sales Concerns 

How do you ensure you have an effective sales prospecting process?  Amid competition, business development must include the art of diplomacy and compromise. Negotiations are built upon the two. One does not have to focus so much on increasing the bottom line but more so on instilling mutual trust and respect. To do this, you have to cultivate strong core values in the company, sharp analysis of market movement, and robust relationship with both internal and external stakeholders of the company. Proposals to be done must be dynamic allowing ample time to integrate a customized approach in addressing needs and wants. Bottom line is, sales prospecting is all about consistency and constancy in applying strategic mindset– and a dash of optimism to motivate and inspire. With this, your business can be one step ahead of everyone else. 

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• Be an active listener. Listen to what the customer is actually saying by asking questions. Get a grip of their thoughts, the words and tone of how these are being spoken or written, and the emotion they evoke. Do not assume or second-guess what they feel. Focus your attention to the message they wish to impart and clarify what you don’t understand.

• Be proactive in identifying and anticipating customer needs. Customers do not just buy products or avail of services. They look for solutions to their woes. Their choices are often a crisscross of both logical and emotional thinking. To do so, always be on the lookout on what they need and their perceived needs at a later time.

• When done in person, make sure to show positive body language. What words cannot say may be easily perceived through your actions. When online, write with the gusto of a child. Your words must always be in congruence with your thoughts and actions– and they must always be focused on evoking positive feelings.

• Always take time to inform customers on how the system work. Often, problems and complaints happen due to failure in communicating how the system works. Be clear how transactions must be done and how concerns are addressed. Doing so well shape-up your customers expectations and avoid problems later on.

• To truly be a customer-centric business, it is crucial to leave “no” at the incinerator. Always strive to address customer concerns, no matter how trivial they may be. While saying “yes” to requests may be a good solution, do make sure to always do what has been promised.

• Always begin with an apology when something goes wrong. Even if the fault is in the customer, it is important to make them feel your sincerity and concern. A customer may not seem right but in the realm of customer-centricism, he or she must always win.

• Encourage customers to give regular feedback and make sure to address concerns in a timely manner. In an era when real-time mechanisms are in place, it is crucial to provide round-the-clock attention to customer service. When giving solutions, it is also imperative to check back and ask for suggestions on improvements.