5 Prospecting Methods That Really Work

Here's the new installment in our effort to bring time-tested sales and marketing articles to the attention of new readers.

The original version of this article ran on Nov. 6, 2013.

In this one, the author talks about five ways to get prospects “that really work.”

Of course, this is like all how-to articles: Some of tips will suit you; most won't. The trick is to search through enough dross to find one gold nugget of sales and marketing wisdom. (Or, at least, one useful aluminum spoon…)

You could use this article yourself, or, if you could have written this article yourself, in your sleep, you could bookmark it and save it for a day when you have someone new in the office to train.

It's no surprise that prospecting is the No. 1 challenge advisors face, year after year. When, as part of National Underwriter's recent Independent Producer Study, we asked about the most challenging aspects of selling insurance products, 55 percent of respondents named prospecting as their top trial. It was a landslide winner, in fact, beating such formidable obstacles as clients' lack of understanding around the need for insurance (34%), negative opinions of insurance products (25%) and product affordability (22%).

As you look to overcome this challenge in the year ahead, keep these five techniques in mind. While there's no silver bullet to make prospecting a breeze, these are the methods your peers know from experience to really work.

— Check out Got Prospects on the Fence? Here's How to Talk Them Down on ThinkAdvisor.