Prospecting

Prospecting is the activity of reaching out to new clients for developing relationships and initiating new business opportunities for your products and services. Your goal is to move these prospects through your sales funnel with the goal of converting them into a customer. ​

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Criteria for Prospecting:

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• Are they within your Target Market?

• Are they qualified?  You can determine this by applying the BARTS qualifying technique, as follows:. 

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• You do not have a prospect until he/she is qualified and in the buying mode.  At this point, the lead is entered into the CRM. 

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Outbound Prospecting Strategies:

 

• Cold/warm calling is an essential prospecting strategy for closing new business and should include plans for generating and nurturing leads and following up with every contact you make. ​

• Conduct data mining (internet) or use a prospect list for your outbound calling activities.  Prospect lists can be purchased from a number of list suppliers.  Also, in many areas, you can visit your local library and access Reference USA for free to identify a list of potential prospects.  

• Your prospecting activities should include but not necessarily be limited to the following:

  • Making cold calls to people on your prospect list.

  • Contacting your personal network and sphere of influence to seek advice, inform them what you are doing, and ask if they know anyone who might benefit from your services.

  • Attending networking events and participating in a leads exchange group like BNI.

  • Identifying referral sources - people and companies that provide complimentary products and services.

  • #1 objective of prospecting is to land the 1st meeting with the prospect.

 

Refer to the Chapter on goal setting for prospecting activities.

Referral Strategy

 

One of the least used prospecting strategies, but one of the most effective is asking for referrals. We will go into more detail in the Referral Section later in this playbook.

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