(By Pat Bryson) We are at the start of a brand-new year. We have the opportunity to write our own paychecks. We decide to a large extent what we make by how we spend our “billable hours”. And it all starts with prospecting!
Which brings me to the subject of today’s article: keeping our pipelines full. Whatever might be happening in the big, wide world, the secret to growing our business is prospecting. “If they don’t go into our pipeline, they won’t come out as sales!”
Many salespeople dread and avoid prospecting. While there is no “secret formula” to make it easy, I’ve listed some rules that can help to make your prospecting successful.
- Make an appointment with yourself. Discipline is required for successful prospecting. Since it is so easy to put it off, set aside time to prospect for one hour each and every day. This should be your inviolate time to prospect. (That means that NOTHING prevents you from doing it!)
- Make as many calls as possible. Research your target to be sure you reach the best prospects. This will ensure that each call will be a high-quality call: and when you are dealing with quality, more is always better than less. Keep track of the number of calls you make, how many prospects you actually connect with and how many appointments you get.
- Make your calls brief. It is your objective to introduce yourself and to get an appointment. It should take only two or three minutes to do so. You aren’t calling to engage the prospect in a long conversation over the phone. You WANT AN APPOINMENT. Remember, you just interrupted their day. They probably don’t have time to talk to you right then.
- Be prepared with a list of names. Don’t waste your prospecting hour attempting to find out the names you need. That might make you feel busy, but you won’t be as productive.
- Work without interruption. Prospecting, just as with any repetitive task, improves the more you do it. Take advantage of your momentum.
- Call during off-peak hours. Conventional wisdom says, “Call between 9AM and 5PM”. That doesn’t always work. Switch or supplement your calling hours and try calling between 7:30 AM and 9AM or between 5PM and 6PM.
- Vary your call times. Everyone is a creature of habit, so prospects probably attend the same meetings every week. If you cannot reach a prospect, learn from your lack of success and call at some other time or on another day.
- Be organized. Keep a record of whom you have called and when, and the subject you discussed. It will help when you finally get an appointment, and it will also help keep track of whom you’re supposed to call back and when.
- Establish your goals, then develop a plan to get there. If your goal is to set the appointment, your cold-call script should be designed and redesigned to help you achieve your goal.
- Don’t stop. Persistence is the key skill every successful salesperson shares. Remember that most sales are closed after the fifth call. Most salespeople quit after the first call!
I’m always amused when a salesperson tells me there are no more prospects out there to call. In previous times, I would pick up the phone book and reference how many businesses there are in a particular town. Thousands! We must not pre-judge who will and who won’t. Yes, we can prospect strategically. but never forget that prospects are where we find them: everywhere!
Pat Bryson is the CEO of Bryson Broadcasting International, a consulting firm that works with sales managers and salespeople to raise revenue. She is the author of two books, “A Road Map to Success in High-Dollar Broadcast Sales” and “Successful Broadcast Sales: Thriving in Change” available on her website. Read Pat’s Radio Ink archives here.
