How to Do Sales Prospecting - 9 Winning Techniques

Aside from the traditional prospecting methods that almost every marketer knows, several less familiar ways of reaching out to prospects have proven surprisingly successful too.

Essentially, there can't be a one-size-fits-all approach to sales prospecting that’s guaranteed to work — you have to be prepared to adapt your methods to suit the prospect in question.

What is sales prospecting?

First, let’s consider what sales prospecting is and what it involves.

The term “sales prospecting” is used to describe the sales enablement process of looking for potential clients and customers from the available pool of possible leads.

The goal is to identify qualified prospects who are likely to move through the sales process, eventually converting into paying customers for the business.

Sales representatives use sales prospecting to widen their base of potential customers, reaching out to possible sales contacts to establish relationships and turn them into “opportunities” over time.

Sales prospecting can be anything from sending out direct mail and making telephone calls to connecting on platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter, and going to networking events. Any of these prospecting methods can be successful, but the secret to success is selecting the right one for each situation.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at 9 winning techniques you need to know.

9 best sales prospecting techniques

1. Create ideal customer profiles

If you go into sales prospecting without a clear understanding of who the ideal customer is, any success you achieve will be more by luck than good management.

The very first step in the sales prospecting process is to create a profile for the ideal customer, which must be done before even thinking about making a sales call or sending out emails.

Create several customer avatars to suit different behaviors, geographics and demographics to effectively cover your brand’s customer base.

Include information about what each customer does, where they live, their family makeup, preferences and income. That gives you the knowledge to address their specific needs most effectively.

Move on to the next step only after completing this stage.

2. Focus on warm calls

Most people are aware of cold calling, but warm calling is a far more effective technique, which should always be employed first. It involves calling prospects who have already shown some interest in the services or products you have to offer.

These prospects may have engaged with your brand in various ways. For example, they may have commented on a social media post, attended a webinar, signed up for your newsletter or engaged with one of your paid ads. The important thing is that they’re already aware of your company and what it offers, and have shown interest in it.

The main downside of cold calling is that it only allows you to base success on patterns and demographics. Even if the person receiving the call is within your target audience group (or even your ideal customer), they aren’t expecting to receive your call and probably aren't ready to make a purchase at that particular moment.

If you’re warm calling your prospects, it’s more likely to result in a sale.

The evidence is in the figures — cold calling has an average conversion rate of just 2%, whereas warm calling’s conversion rate is at least 30%.

3. Send engaging, personalized emails

Another effective method to reach out to prospects is to use personalized emails. Sending an email enables a prospect to peruse your content at their leisure and to take action once they’re ready to do so. Emailing also saves you time.

Thousands of personalized emails can be sent simultaneously and scheduled to suit your leads’ activities or time zones.

Nowadays, many email marketing software programs allow you to personalize your email content easily with the contact's name, birthday, purchase history and lots of other information.

You can use placeholders that will be automatically converted by the system into the details of each subscriber, putting them into different categories according to their activities.

With various email marketing techniques, you can strengthen your brand's relationship with its prospects. With time, patience and some skill, you’ll be able to lead them down your sales funnel naturally and effortlessly.

4. Target prospects via LinkedIn

The LinkedIn social media platform has more than 800 million members, and it’s specifically tailored for business connections. Here's how you can use LinkedIn for prospecting.

You can regularly post updates about the services you offer, connect with your potential customers, like-minded professionals and future partners, join groups relevant to your business, and track your competitors and prospects.

Traditionally, LinkedIn is a place for B2B marketing. Recently, however, B2C companies are also beginning to use LinkedIn to connect with ideal customers.

5. Target prospects via Twitter

Twitter is often overlooked as a tool for sales prospecting. Yet it can prove to be very effective.

Twitter allows you to find the ideal contacts for your brand. It also allows you to see their personal side. They are far less likely to share this side on professional social media platforms such as LinkedIn.

As a result, you get better insight into what makes them tick. You can then use this information to focus your efforts more effectively.

6. Ask for referrals

We’re more likely to buy something when someone we trust recommends it. For this reason, sales referrals represent an effective yet underrated sales prospecting method that can boost your revenue with minimal investment.

Ask satisfied customers to refer your brand to somebody they know who would also appreciate your service or product. The individual receiving the referral is more likely to buy because somebody they trust and know has approved your company.

Studies show that consumers find word-of-mouth to be 2 to 10 times more reliable than paid advertisements, and their lifetime value is up to 16% higher when compared with non-referred customers.

7. Use automation

Technology is proving to be indispensable in the world of sales. With the growth of digital marketing, more and more companies are using explainer videos as part of their marketing strategy. While creating webinars might seem time consuming, there are ways you can automate some parts of this process. For example, adopting screen sharing software can make the webinars look more professional without adding in the extra hours on your end.

Harnessing the power of automation is essential for success when it comes to sales prospecting.

Acquiring customers can be time-consuming. The larger your database, the more time sales reps spend calling and sending emails. Fortunately, there are advanced tools that allow you to automate many of these processes.

Software today can send details of purchases directly to your CRM. Some tools can create workflows for sending automatic texts and emails to prospects. You can even automate the calling process.

By using the newest technology to interact with your CRM software and automate time-consuming processes, your sales reps save time and money. They can focus more fully on making sales and improving the customer experience.

8. Attend relevant events

Although online technologies are crucial in today’s sales world, face-to-face meetings still matter. In fact, attending events and networking in person couldn’t be more important. Making in-person contacts will benefit your business in ways that virtual contact can’t.

Live events such as conferences, exhibitions, trade shows, fairs, workshops and seminars are excellent opportunities to spread the word about your company. These events allow you to meet and build relationships with prospective partners and customers.

When you meet potential customers in person, you can use nonverbal cues to understand your target audience better. Observing their facial expressions and body language will give you information about your customer's persona. This way, you can make your acquisition efforts more efficient.

9. Always follow up

Following up with your contacts is paramount. A follow-up has the power to turn an unanswered email into a conversation that can lead to a sale.

If you don't follow up on emails you send, you’re giving up on those prospects. If you do that, your chance of receiving a response drops significantly.

If you reconnect with the prospect after the initial contact, you'll be closer to closing a sale.

The more interactions they have with your company, the more familiar they become with it. The more familiar they become, the more they trust your brand. Nurture your prospects, and they’re much more likely to convert.

The bottom line

The efficiency of each technique depends on your business’s nature and size, as well as your target audience’s preferences. As such, you’ll need to figure out what works for you and your brand.

The rapid growth of technology has created an opportunity to improve and automate many things in the prospecting process that were not possible a few years ago.

So don't dismiss the idea of trying new methods, as this can make your prospecting process easier and more efficient.