Prospecting is the key to long-term success in sales, which is why the top salespeople put a significant amount of time toward this activity. In fact, if you allocate 80 percent of your schedule to prospecting, you will seldom, if ever, experience peaks and valleys in your revenue stream.
In addition to consistent efforts, here are 7 other ways to improve your prospecting results:
1. Develop a killer call opener. You have less than 20 seconds to capture your prospects' attention, so skip the BS about your company, your product and your service and focus on what is important to them.
2. Conduct the appropriate amount of pre-call research so you can speak directly to your prospect's potential pain points. Be careful, however, not to develop "paralysis by analysis."
3. Pick the right time to call. You stand a better chance of connecting with senior executives by calling them early (7:00-8:00 AM) or late (after 6:00 PM).
4. Never open a cold call with "Hi, how are you today?" Contrary to popular belief, prospects don't view this as a rapport-building question.
