5 Techniques For Successful Sales Prospecting

Prospecting is critical to any sales team’s success. Without prospects, the pipeline and sales whither. Unfortunately, many people spend their valuable sales time on contacting bad leads, or even worse, cold calling. Strong sales prospecting techniques — before contact is ever made — helps to ensure your sales team isn’t wasting time that could be better spent on more valuable leads. This helps you reach out to the decision-makers immediately, instead of wasting time speaking to people who don’t have any insight into the purchasing process. Once you have this profile built for a prospect, prioritize prospects accordingly so more time is spent on the prospects most likely to be receptive to your efforts. In B2B sales, customers spend up to 90 percent of the sales cycle before working with a vendor. They’re short, concise videos that explain exactly who your company is and how you can solve a customer’s problems.

Source: Vidyard

Here are five techniques a sales team can use to prospect more effectively:

1. Aim High

A common problem among salespeople is that they start too low in an organization, attempting to gain a foothold and slowly determining who makes the purchasing decision. Today, you can easily gain insight into what a company’s organization chart might look like. Simply look at LinkedIn or scour job boards to see what positions organizations have hired for in the past. This helps you reach out to the decision-makers immediately, instead of wasting time speaking to people who don’t have any insight into the purchasing process.

2. Build a Customer Profile

Many salespeople look at basic organizational demographics and conclude that this info is enough to begin reaching out to prospects. This includes whether they’re in the proper sales territory, industry or are the right size. To be successful, you need to dive a bit deeper by answering these questions about prospects first: