5 self tested ways to get the most out of Prospecting for increasing your sales

Once the sales people separate leads from prospects, they carefully analyse the relative value of each prospect. This grading of prospects or establishing a priority test results in increased sales and the most efficient use of time and energy. One can get best out of prospecting by doing some essential things; these are:

5 self tested ways to get the most out of Prospecting

1. Learn to Qualify and Evaluate Prospects Effectively:

Good many companies conduct quite extensive research to determine what distinguishes a good prospect. For instance, Management Systems division of HLL identified 16 key criteria for assessing leads. In a monthly sales prospect random meeting that lasts for four to six hours per sales person, sales people demonstrate that their leads were in fact qualified prospects.

2. Keep Good Records:

The information and the type of prospect file needed vary by type of business. Many industrial sales people keep a file card for each customer and each prospect. They may also complete a formal call report after each meeting. Good many sales people now use PC and Laptop – based software packages to keep track of prospects. Sales people at CONAM Inspection section, a company that sells lab services to industrial firms, water plants and power plants – use the ACT package. Under this effort, the sales person can store and quickly retrieve all sorts of information, including call objective’s notes about prior calls, “to-do” information and renders. A number of sources are available to help sales people to learn about the latest software program developed to keep good track of prospects and leads. That is, sales people are becoming increasingly advanced to track prospects is often tied into a large, complete system for managing their time and territories.

3. Set Quotas:

The most effective plans include the weekly and the monthly quotas for obtaining new prospects. In the long run, prospecting goals can be as important as sales goals and quota* remind the sales persons to keep constant look out for new names to fill the prospect pipeline In becomes a part of salesman’s commitment and performance evaluation.

4. Evaluate the Results:

Sales people are to evaluate the profitability of any sales resulting from various lead – generating activities instead of just counting the number of names a particular method yields. The sales people should study the methods used by the most successful sales people in their firm, because sales people differ greatly in their ability to judge the strength of leads. An analysis may show that present system does not produce enough prospects or the right kinds of prospects, files representations may for example, depend entirely on referred names from company advertising or from the service department.

If these two sources do not supply enough names to produce, the sales volume desired other prospecting method should so considered. A sales man should not hesitate to scrap time honoured prospecting system even if they have been used for years in the firm or industry or even used by the sales person’s own Sales Manager. One of the key tenets of the learning organization is to activity ‘unlearn’ traditional but detrimental – radices. In case a prospecting method, that is used to be excellent, is no longer producing 3: lid, profitable lead, it should be discarded for a more appropriate method.

5. Overcoming Reluctance to Prospecting:

Sales people often struggle with a reluctance to prospect that persists no matter how much they have been trained and how much they believe in the products they sell. Many people are uncomfortable –en they initially contact other people, but for sales people reluctance to call can be a career threatening condition. Research findings reveal that there are good numbers of reasons for reluctance to call.

There are worrying about worst case scenarios, spending too much time preparing being overly concerned with looking successful, fear of making group presentations, guilt at having career in selling, fear of appearing too pushy, feeling intimidated by people with prestige or power, fear of losing friends or family approval, fear of using the phone for prospecting and having a compulsive need to argue make excuse or blame others.

Reluctance to call can and must be overcome to sell successfully. In this regard several activities help. For example, the sales person listens of excuses that other sales people give to justify their call- reluctant behaviour or identify the excuses one uses to avoid making calls. Then evaluate the validity of those excusers. Also, recount your own successes or those of others that resulted from prospecting effectively.