Best Prospecting Methods
Module: Prospecting Like an Evangelist Session Number: 6
Session Title: Best Prospecting Methods
Session Overview: Now that you’ve determined how to create a customer profile and where to find the customers that best match your ideal customer profile, you’ll identify the best methods for reaching your ideal customers. You’ll need to identify how to best grab your prospect’s attention.
Training Principle:
You have complete control over your outreach efforts. You control how many calls you make or emails you send, how many connections you have on LinkedIn, and where you engage with people. Your goal is to identify creative prospecting methods that you can implement and measure.
Step 1:
Use your phone. Although many people will tell you the phone is dead in the context of sales, that’s not true if you’re using it effectively. If you’re using it to connect with people and turn cold leads to warm ones, the phone is a powerful tool. Our training system offers a flow process, or a cadence, that will help you optimize your phone outreach to your prospects.
Step 2:
Use email. Many of us love email because it’s convenient and simple. Many of us are also using email incorrectly, and in modules two and three we’ll do a deep-dive into what that looks like. We’ll provide tactics and strategies that will help you use email well.
Step 3:
Use social media. Most everyone you’ll seek to connect with is on at least one social media platform, and it’s a great way to connect and build relationships with people who might benefit from your product or service. Just as with calls and emails, though, there’s a proper way to use it in sales.
Step 4:
Embrace referrals. You’ve likely built a large network over the course of your career, but even if you’re new and your network is small, you can use it to find people and organizations that can benefit from your product or service.
Step 5:
Attend conferences. You don’t have to set up a booth at the conference in order to make it worth your while. Simply go and network with other people.
Step 6:
Go door-to-door. This approach varies depending on whether you’re in the B2B realm or the B2C realm. It may not be the best fit for you depending upon what you’re selling, but for some businesses, it’s the source of 100 percent of their business.
Step 7:
Attend networking events. Engage with your chamber of commerce or groups within your community. Find industry events where your ideal clients spend time.
Step 8:
Use snail mail. Though many organizations have abandoned snail mail in their prospecting efforts, it’s still possible to grab your ideal customers’ attention using traditional mail.
Tasks to Implement: Your industry and your clients will determine which of these options works best for you, though every industry can successfully use emails, phone, and social media. Identify the top methods for your clients and your industry, or even just the top option if identifying three is too difficult.
Session Recap: Once you’ve done the work of identifying your ideal customers and determining where to find them, your next priority is figuring out exactly how to grab your prospects’ attention. Your methods will depend on the industries you’re pursuing and the products or services you’re selling. Determining the best approaches for your customers will be the first step in your prospecting process.
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