In a follow-up post, Steve Kloyda talks further about the art of prospecting. Do you agree with his thoughts?
Your success in sales starts and ends with prospecting
Skeptics say that prospecting is dead. It’s not. And it never will be. The decision to prospect is yours alone.
Yes, the old way of selling has changed, but prospecting continues to be the foundation of all successful businesses and salespeople. So what is prospecting?
Prospecting is defined as "in search of" or "to labor for". What are we all searching for? We should be prospecting for (or searching for) new customers, or new business from our existing customers. It’s that simple.
Call it what you want — lead generation, business development, canvassing, door-to-door, talking with referrals, follow up from a networking event, asking for referrals or even making the “Dreaded Cold Call.” You can disguise it anyway you want. You are prospecting!
Today prospecting is the art of putting new potential clients, or new business from existing customers into our sales pipeline. Having observed thousands of salespeople fail I see one thing in common - they all stopped prospecting.
Why then, do we stop prospecting? The simple answer is that it is hard work. We get lazy and complacent. After all, it's easier to check your voicemail or e-mail isn't it? Voicemail can’t object, e-mail doesn’t challenge our value. We get caught up in all the stuff that really doesn't matter.
The following quote from Frank Bettger’s book ‘How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success” says it simply, “You can't make a sale, until you write some business; You can't write some business, until you have had a conversation; And you can't have a conversation until you make the call!”
So… Are you ready to have more conversations, write more business, and make more sales? The decision is yours and yours alone.
Happy Prospecting!
For more than 30 years, Kloyda has been creating unique selling experiences that transform the lives of salespeople, prospects and customers. As Founder of The Prospecting Expert and The Producer’s Toolbox, Steve helps his clients. He can be reached at steve@theprospectingexpert.com.
