Sales volume is in direct proportion to the volume of prospecting by the salesperson. Sales cannot be made without prospects. Sales is a numbers game; the more prospective customers a salesperson calls on, the more sales are made and the more prospecting a salesperson does, the more prospects they have to call on. Sporadic prospecting results in inconsistent sales figures, up-and-down sales volume. In times of plenty (lots of leads to work) it is natural for reps to prospect less, but there should be consistent prospecting in order to assure a constant flow of leads to be worked.

 

The top sales producers are usually the top prospectors and the top prospectors don’t place all of their eggs (prospecting efforts) into one basket (prospecting methods). There are many means of obtaining leads to work and most successful reps use several methods:

·        Cold Calling – the one reps fear the most, but also the most productive means of developing “hot” leads. Includes telemarketing and door-knocking.

·        Direct Mail - The easiest, but least productive approach.

·        E-mail – Even easier with about the same conversion rate as snail-mail.

·        Newsletters – both by direct mail and e-mail.

·        Networking Events – Trade associations, civic organizations, and service clubs.

·        Trade Shows – Large numbers of prospects in one place.

·        Advertising – Using various media to reach prospects with a message.

·        Referrals From Existing Customers – Very good.

·        Conducting Product Seminars – Host a trade association event and get to make a product presentation, offer product training through distributors and dealers to their customers.

 

The sales manager’s dilemma is finding sales representatives who are “complete,” having the presentation skills, the follow up perseverance, and the closing ability, coupled with the prospecting skills. More often that that, sales reps have a weakness and it is usually in the prospecting area. One approach that smart managers use to make their average sales people as productive as the super-stars is to provide them all with a constant flow of qualified leads. Without doing these themselves, the best alternative is to outsource sales lead development to a professional outbound call center that specializes in telesales cold calling.

 

An appointment setting service can assure a sales manager that his people are spending more time in face-to-face contact with qualified prospects, as opposed to spending a lot of their time locating and qualifying sales leads. More direct contact equals more sales volume and the average sales reps will all look like super-stars.