Steve Waterhouse

Prospecting in a Soft Market

Yesterday, I worked with a group of wonderful sales people who sell for one of the leading companies in their industry. You would all recognize the brand. They were complaining (only a little) that the market was soft and that it was affecting their business. I asked them two questions. First, how big is the total market for your product? Answer: over $200 billion. Second, for you to be a superstar, how much business would you have to do? Answer $150 million or 0.075% of the market. If their market were to shrink by 25%, which would mean world-wide disaster, a superstar would need 0.1% of the market. In other words, even in the worst of situations, there would be 1000 times as much business available as anyone would need to be a superstar. They got the point and they agreed that tough times just mean sifting through more leads to find the nuggets.

Prospecting is a necessary part of sales and something that many sales people do poorly. Done correctly, it becomes as much a part of your routine and as important as a great presentation or a winning close. Here are 14 tips you can use to improve the effectiveness of your sales team's prospecting efforts:

Define the type of prospect that is likely to want your offer
Separate your list of prospects by size or opportunity. A=big, B=medium, C=small
Set individual and group goals for new contacts per day
Work the A list first. Whales are always better than minnows
Minimize distractions and maximize call time
Use the telephone for as much of the selling process as possible
Have several good value statements written in front of you
Brainstorm common objections (there aren't many new ones)
Develop effective counters to objections
Work in pairs and coach each other
Record your calls and review them (at least your side of the call)
Leave value-based messages on voice mail
Call early, late, lunch hour, anytime.
Keep it up forever!
Good prospecting requires skills, persistence, coaching and management support. Done consistently, it can be the path to dramatic business growth or insurance against slower times.

If your company is ready to turn your sales team into a business generating machine, our Power Prospecting program may be just the ticket. We'll show you how it's done and help your managers learn to keep the activity going long after we are gone.

For a free copy of "How to Leave a Voice Mail That Gets Results", please email article14@waterhousegroup.com and ask for article #14.

Stephen Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse Group. They specialize in helping companies increase their sales and profits. He can be reached at 1-800-57-LEARN or steve@waterhousegroup.com.

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