A Beginner’s Guide To Sales Prospecting: Tools, Techniques, & Templates
Unfortunately, this article is not about prospector Yukon Cornelius from the claymation classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. However, sales prospects are arguably much more important to your day-to-day working life as they are the people who can one day become paying customers.
This breakdown covers everything you need to know about sales prospecting, some of the best sales techniques, and the tools you'll need to grow your customer base.
What Is Sales Prospecting?
A sales prospect is a potential customer, so sales prospecting is the process of finding those potentials and qualifying them.
Your salespeople can use prospecting to grow their potential client base, reaching out to them, nurturing people who have warmed up to their sales pitches, and connecting with them on a more personal level for a strong customer relationship.
Some of the most common sales prospecting techniques include attending networking events and webinars, connecting through social media and LinkedIn, making cold calls or sending cold emails, and pitching a product to a referral or a warm prospect.
Sales Lead vs. Prospect
Leads and prospects are two different types of potential customers.
While a lead is a potential customer who has already expressed interest in your products and services through specific buying behaviors, like visiting your website or signing up for a free trial, a prospect is a lead who a sales rep has already researched and qualified to ensure they have the appropriate characteristics of your ideal customer profile.
Prospects have already shown that they need your product or service, have the budget to purchase said product, are the force behind a purchasing decision, and have a buyer persona that aligns with the ideals of your organization.
Stages of Sales Prospecting
Typically, the sales pipeline takes your lead lists from a cold lead to a warm opportunity and, eventually, to a hot deal. Prospecting can help jumpstart that sales cycle.
From Leads to Prospects
The sales prospecting process starts with an unqualified lead you may have gotten through buying a list, scraping a website, or contact forms.
From Prospect to Opportunity
Your sales team will qualify leads with lead scoring tools, turning them into prospects, getting to know them through research, and deciding whether they’re the right fit.
Nurturing That Opportunity
Now your sales professionals must take the leap and conduct some B2B sales outreach to pitch your product and interest them in buying it.
Conversion Into Customers
Hopefully, after several conversations and follow-ups, tracked in real-time in your CRM, your prospect turns into a closed deal. Whether it’s won or lost, you can close the book on them and move on to the next.
Sales Prospecting Techniques
With that refresh on the sales funnel, let’s dive into how you use various sales prospecting techniques to find the right prospects and target audience.
1. Research Your Prospect BEFORE Reaching Out
Whether you follow a new prospect on social media or check out their LinkedIn profile, you need to learn more about whether or not they’re actually a potential buyer. You’ll want to find out their company name, role, mutual connections, and whether they’re actually one of the decision-makers in an organization.
This is part of the process for qualified leads, but it can also help you build a more personal, authentic connection with account executives. You can build this long-distance relationship by commenting or liking various status updates before messaging them. If they recognize your name from their notifications, they’re more likely to respond to your outbound prospecting.
2. Connect With Them In Other Ways
If anyone on your prospecting list is part of a social media or networking group, join in and get active before connecting with them. They’ll see that you have mutuals in common and warm up to you much more quickly. Don’t be afraid to comment on posts and engage with other members in the group to build up trust and ensure your prospecting email ends up directly in their inbox.
3. Become Their Hype Person
There’s no better way to build relationships with a cold prospect than by drumming up engagement. Show that you're interested in their ideas and supportive of their activities. You can also endorse them for various skills on their work profile to indirectly help them with their career.
Prospecting Templates
So you’ve gone through various prospecting efforts to confirm a prospect’s needs, pain points, and contact information. Now it’s time to build your sales prospecting strategy with a sales email or call that shows them what you have to offer.
Start With A Warm Email
You want to send a first-touch email that actually gets opened, so here are a few key tips to help you craft your email template:
- Write an engaging subject line that piques their interest, but avoids sounding cliche.
- Make a personalized appeal that addresses their pain points and adds value to their business.
- Build on your connection by sharing why you’re reaching out and why they should care.
- Finish with a clear call-to-action that suggests a time for a call or meeting.
You can drive home your final recommendation to connect with a close-ended question that makes it clear it’s up to them to respond. Another sales prospecting tip is to send a calendar invite that gets straight to the point.
Getting To The Phone Call
If a call is your preferred first communication, try this structure to turn new leads into new customers:
- Establish a personal rapport by asking questions about the prospect’s weekend for a more intimate touch that ensures a meaningful relationship.
- Bring up a prospect’s pain points and dive right into solutions to show them you understand their primary business challenges.
- Make them curious by asking questions about their business and really listen to the answers so you can refer to them later in your final pitch.
- Wrap up this initial call when you suggest a calendar time for a longer follow-up call that discusses more details, like pricing. Ask if they’re free on a specific day and time.
Whether you prefer a call or an email, either of these sales prospecting methods can set you up for success and enhance future customer relationship management.
Time To Get Started
Prospecting activities don’t have to be difficult, tedious, or time-consuming. With sales prospecting software, you’ll discover a host of automations, integrations, and tools that can enhance your sales funnel and improve your conversion rate.
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