Prospecting is one of the key stages of the sales process.

And, yet, it is also one of the more difficult ones.

In fact, 80% of sales reps named prospecting as the most challenging stage of the sale process.

So, why is it so challenging?

Well, let’s admit – prospecting is not as exciting as closing a deal. Therefore, it is often postponed for when all the “important things” are done.

But without a sales pipeline full of good quality leads, no other new sales are going to happen. That’s why it’s crucial to understand that prospecting kick-starts the entire sale and determines, to a great extent, whether or not the deal is going to be sealed.

The math is simple: The more prospects you generate, the more chances to close a sale you have, as every prospect equals an opportunity.

And even though traditionally it’s the marketing department that has been tasked with generating leads for sales, it doesn’t mean that sales should stop their own prospecting efforts and wait for the leads to come pouring in.

Salespeople still have to embrace the traditional way of prospecting and self-generate leads.

But before we move on to discussing the smart ways to prospect, let’s take a look at how the prospecting game has changed.

The new reality: Buyers take over the sales process

Today’s buyers have become very independent and are playing “hard to get”.

Before making any contact with a sales person, buyers are doing a bit of prospecting of their own.

A few years ago, a study by CSO Insights showed that, 45% (almost half!) of prospects admitted they wanted to evaluate their needs and look for solutions themselves, before contacting any sales person.

Today, the situation is similar.

When considering a purchase, B2B buyers spend a meager 17% of time meeting with sellers, and when comparing offers they spend only 5% or 6% of their time actually talking to a sales rep.

So, how do they get the information about products? Yes, you guessed it right – they search the Internet.

94% of buyers use the internet to “make their own research” before making purchases.

On average, it takes 12 online searches for B2B buyers before engaging with a brand’s site. And 53% of B2B buyers turn to social media to make buying decisions.

What it all means is that salespeople are losing their grasp on the sale. It seems like they are no longer in the picture, and that’s a bit scary for the future of sales professionals.

But … things are not that bad, because those you seek out are actually seeking you!

In fact, 91% of prospects don’t mind engaging with a sales rep in the early stages of their buying journey, including 34% of new buyers who are particularly interested in engaging with a sales person early on.

This means that you, as a sales person, have all the chances to influence the sale and steer it to the right direction in the early stages. So how do you do that?

1. The first thing you need to do is be there for a buyer when they need you. The research shows that it is during the consideration stage (after having researched and shortlisted the options) that 60% of B2B buyers want to contact a sales rep.

2. Another way of taking hold of the sales wheel is by simply initiating the first contact. As 35-50% of buyers choose the vendor that reaches out or responds to them first. Reaching out is all that is needed for more than 85% of buyers to say “yes” to a meeting with a sales rep.

Why commitment to a prospecting strategy is key?

There’s one more fact you need to acknowledge about prospecting – leads won’t just fall into your lap. 

You’ve got to take action for something to happen.

Just as you would block a consistent time in your calendar for your workouts every day, it’s just as important to book a consistent time in your calendar to prospect every day.

Research demonstrates that 81,6% of top performing salespeople spend 4 hours or more per day on sales-related activities.

And since prospecting isn’t always the most fun of activities, booking this time with yourself will go a long way in ensuring that this activity happens on a regular basis.

The benefits of such a discipline are plenty:

• A sales pipeline full of leads
• Higher chances of conversion
• Better win rates.

How to prospect for sales

Prospecting is one of the most time-consuming and challenging tasks that salespeople face. But, if done right, it can be an exciting experience that polishes your sales skills and allows you to find the potential customers who are the perfect fit for your offer.

Top sales performers are known to generate 2.7 times more conversions than their peers, showcasing the critical impact of effective prospecting skills

Here’s 10 sales prospecting techniques you need to know now.

1. Create an ideal prospect profile

There are many different types of people, industries and company sizes out there.

How do you know where to start?

Take some time to find out what your ideal customer profile looks like and do some research in your own database.

Create profiles for each of the following groups:

• Who are your top five customers?
• Who are your worst five customers?
• Who are your most profitable customers? 
• Which ones are the least profitable? 

Don’t assume that just because a company is in your database that they fit your ideal customer profile. Ironically, new studies show that half of your prospects (50%) are not a good fit for what you want to sell.

It’s instrumental to also think in the “problem-solution way”, i.e. identify what pain points your ideal customers may have and how your product solves them.

Once you have done this homework, you can use both the profile list and your existing company list to find other businesses which match these criteria. This tactic, also known as account-based marketing, will help you focus on the bigger fish in the sea.

2. Identify ways to meet your ideal prospects

Start by analyzing where you met your "best" customers. In most cases, your "best" customers are your most profitable customers.

Was it at a trade show or a seminar? Or via a referral?

This will help you single out your most “lucrative” places to hang out at.

Now think in terms of industry events or social organizations: What events or activities are your ideal prospects likely to attend or be active in?

Finally, think in terms of their digital presence: What social media channels, newsfeeds and other digital publications are they likely to use or visit?

For example, if you’re in B2B sales, chances are most of your potential customers are on LinkedIn. This means you need to establish a strong presence on this platform. LinkedIn allows you to not only find out almost everything about a prospect, but also to warm up your first approach through a mutual connection.

All this information will help you map out an action plan where to show up at the right places to meet your potential customers.

3. Actively work on your call lists

You’ve got the cold call list and the warm lead list, and even a lost lead list.

Prioritize each list and then take some time each day to call the people on your lists.

First of all, don’t underestimate the power of a phone call.

Why?

Because research shows that 69% of buyers accepted a call from new salespeople and 27% of sellers admit that making phone calls to new contacts is very/extremely effective.

Another tip is to write down a list of open-ended questions for all your prospect lists.

Did you know that asking between 11–14 questions during a lead call will translate to 74% greater success?

What you need is not a scripted sales pitch, but a dialogue during which you can learn about their pain points, needs and wishes, and most importantly – where they are in their decision process. If you can maintain an interesting conversation, qualifying leads becomes much easier.

A couple questions to keep in mind:

• What are they looking for?
• Do they have a specific solution to their problem in mind?
• 'Do they have enough information?
• Is there any information you can send them?

You could also invite them to a webinar or a seminar that you’re hosting.

Call to touch base again in 6 weeks or 6 months. In the end, it’s all about keeping in touch. By working the list consistently, you’ll be able to turn lukewarm leads into warmer leads and, finally, into hot leads.

4. Send personalized emails

Don’t think that email, as a sales tool, is dead.

Quite the opposite – it’s alive and kicking, as 80% of buyers say they prefer to be contacted by sellers via email.

But there is one thing that’s dying out as we speak – mass or bulk emails.

With a 26% higher open rate than mass emails, personalized emails now run the show.

Some best practice tips:

• Make sure that the content is personalized to each prospect’s needs. Your task is to impress them with how much you know about their company or industry. Make sure the content is specific and addresses the needs of a particular prospect.
• In order for your leads to open and read your email, make sure that your email looks well on mobile devices, as more than half of all emails are read on-the-go. In fact, emails that are optimized for mobile devices generate 15% higher click through rates than those not optimized.
• In order for your sales email to hit the mark, you need to know what to write and how. To help you, we have created the 12 sales ready email templates guide that is full of sales tips and tricks.

Simply download the guide and you will learn:

• How to increase sales productivity through emails
• What are the best times to send an email to new prospects
• Examples of subject lines that will get your email opened
• 12 sales email templates to increase response rates!

5. Ask for referrals

Nothing is better than a happy customer, because happy customers spread the happy word.

So, it’s no surprise that 91% of B2B buyers are influenced by word-of-mouth when making their buying decision, while the referral-based sale closing ratio stands at 50% to 70%.

The power of referrals is truly incredible, as 73% of executives prefer to work with salespeople referred by someone they know.

This is a free-of-charge opportunity you simply can’t afford to miss – ask your customers for referrals.

And even though the sales reps who actively seek out and exploit referrals earn 4 to 5 times more than those who don’t, still only 11% of salespeople ask for referrals.

The best time to ask for a referral is immediately after the sale is made.

Why? Because this is when the experience is still fresh in the customer’s mind. If the experience was positive, a massive 91% of customers would be happy to provide a referral!

It’s also important to keep in touch with your existing customers to ensure that they are still happy with your product/service and with your company.

Set up a sales meeting to say hello and see how things are going. Send them invitations to events, share whitepapers, and other content that you think would be valuable for their business – making sure you stay top of mind!

6. Become a subject matter expert

But, in order to get those referrals coming in, you need to become more than a seller or a vendor.

You need to be a trustworthy expert and a provider of solutions, as 79% of prospects want their sales reps to be trusted advisors.

This means that you need to know a lot about the industry that you’re targeting:

According to a research, 51% of top performing salespeople report being seen as “an expert in their field” and only 7% of top performers reported being seen as “a salesperson”.

You also need to have indepth knowledge on:

• Your potential customers. Everyone likes attention and to be taken seriously. That’s why you need to know a lot not only about their needs and concerns, but also their victories and achievements. Research your leads like a true detective and use that knowledge to reinforce your value proposition.
• Your own product. Did you know that 54% of prospects want to find out how the product works on the first call? So, you need to be ready to discuss the key functionality of your product, answer any questions and give examples.

7. Build your social media presence

If you haven’t figured it out yet, social media is here to stay.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube are all channels that your potential buyers visit to find information. So, if you’re not there, somebody else will take your place!

Let me share some social selling statistics with you:

• 91% of B2B buyers are now active and involved in social media (Source)
• 84% of senior executives use social media to support purchasing decisions (Source)
• 65% of salespeople who use social selling fill their pipeline (Source)
• 78% of salespeople using social media outsell their peers (Source)
• Using social selling tools can increase win rates by 5% and deal size by 35% (Source)

The key message?

Social selling works!

If you’re in doubt of where to start, start easy and take baby steps. Create a profile on one of the social media channels which you think are important in your work.

If you’re B2B, make sure you’re on LinkedIn (or Xing). Investing in your LinkedIn profile is very important, as 82% of buyers claim that they look up vendors on LinkedIn before replying to their outreach efforts and, 70% of sales reps prefer to use the channel to prospect and close sales leads.

Remember that a social media presence adds to your prospecting arsenal and doesn’t replace your other prospecting activities.

8. Send relevant content to prospects

While we all know that content helps salespeople to take prospects down the sales funnel quicker, what we may not know is what type of content to send and when.

To answer this question – think what you’re trying to achieve during the prospecting stage. You want your potential buyer either to pay attention and give you a chance to meet or move to the next stage, right?

This means that the content you send should address specific situations and pain points of that prospect. Because, let’s face it – nobody will listen to you if you aren’t going to talk about them. 

Sadly, this is not always the case. Much of the content produced by companies around the world focuses solely on their own products, features, and services – rather than focusing on their potential customers’ pain points.

This means – quit sending out content that talks about how great you are and how great your company is!

With 69% of buyers craving for research data that is relevant to their area of business and 89% favoring the content “that made it easier to show ROI”, you have to give your prospects solutions and value through your content.

The Demand Gen’s B2B Buyer’s Survey Report gives the following ranking of a vendor’s content:

Show that you understand where they are in the buying process, what their challenges are and provide knowledge, ideas and insights that move them further in the buying process.

9. Demonstrate your sales skills in video format

This is hands down the most trending tip for sales prospecting and something you may not yet tried.

The latest trends point to the rise of the video both as a marketing and sales outreach tool.

I'm not talking about fancy corporate demo videos with unnaturally smiling customer service agents and model-looking businessmen shaking hands incessantly in each and every corner.

I am talking about simple amateur videos, where you, as a sales rep, can show your face and introduce yourself, offer information, quote numbers, and give your best sales pitch. All the usual things but done – differently.

After all, people buy from people. So, show them the real you!

Videos in general are a powerful way to convey information in an enticing and informative way.

Just look at these numbers:

• In 2022, 80% of the content consumed by buyers on the internet will be video. (Source) 
• 8 out of 10 buyers have purchased a piece of software or app after having watched the brand’s video. (Source)
  • 96% of buyers turn to videos to learn more about a particular product and/or service. (Source)
  • 64% of consumers make a purchase after watching branded social videos. (Source)
  • 50.9% of B2B decision-makers use YouTube to research purchases. (Source)

Why not take advantage of this trend?

And if your company’s marketing team creates videos, not using them in sales is a crime nowadays.

How about sending demo videos that effectively sum up how your product works and what benefits it gives during the awareness and interest stage? Followed by more detailed how-to functional videos during the consideration and justification stages?

Want to improve your email marketing strategy?

Videos can help you here too! Did you know that by adding a video in your email, you can increase open-to-reply rates by as much as 8X!

So, to appeal to an increasingly visual audience of buyers it’s time to go into full video mode.

10. Follow up, follow up, follow up

Finally, the fruits of your labor generally do not show up on the first contact. Moving a lead from lukewarm to hot requires work. This means sending follow up emails, making multiple phone calls, forwarding additional information, and other follow-up activities.

Timely follow-ups are reliable ways to build a relationship and demonstrate your determination and trustworthiness.

In fact, 42% buyers admit that they were encouraged to make a purchase if the sales rep called back at an agreed-upon time.

Anything – from casual “just checking in” or a “thank you” note, to sending a draft proposal or product specs on time – goes a long way in increasing your chances of making a sale.

Research shows that if you haven’t heard back on your email in 24 hours, it’s vital to follow up, as “you have a 21% chance of getting a reply to your second email, if the first goes unanswered.”

Emphasizing the value of persistence, a single additional follow-up message can increase reply rates by 65.8%, highlighting the importance of consistent engagement in the prospecting process.

However, managing follow-ups can be a challenge, that’s why using the capabilities inside a CRM will help you stay on track.

Do you want to improve the way you prosperct and engage with buyers using a data-driven strategy? Book a demo today. One of our CRM experts will discuss your business challenges, sales goals and how SuperOffice CRM can help you grow.

Customers also ask

How can sales professionals effectively track and analyze the success rate of different prospecting strategies to determine which methods are most effective for their specific industry or target audience?

Sales professionals can use CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools to track the effectiveness of different prospecting strategies. By logging details of interactions, responses, and outcomes, they can analyze data to see which methods yield the highest conversion rates. Key performance indicators (KPIs) like response rate, conversion rate, and the average time to close can be crucial metrics. Regularly reviewing and adjusting strategies based on this data can help tailor approaches to specific industries or audiences.

What are some common mistakes or pitfalls to avoid when implementing these prospecting strategies, and how can sales professionals overcome these challenges?

One common mistake is not adequately researching potential clients, leading to a lack of personalization in outreach efforts. To overcome this, sales professionals should invest time in understanding the needs and pain points of their prospects. Another mistake is being too aggressive or giving up too soon. Balancing persistence with respect for the prospect’s time and boundaries is crucial. Sales professionals should also avoid relying on a single prospecting method; instead, a diversified approach can be more effective.

Can the blog provide case studies or real-world examples of sales professionals who have successfully implemented these prospecting strategies, detailing the impact on their sales performance and customer engagement?

The Printed Cup Company implemented SuperOffice CRM to manage its growing customer base amidst international expansion. The transition led to a dramatic increase in operational efficiency, notably in customer data management. As a result, the customer base expanded from a few hundred to 35,000, supporting entry into new markets. This strategic implementation of CRM played a crucial role in growing the company's revenue from £100,000 to £2,100,000.

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