How does consistent customer prospecting yield new sales?

Rodrigo Sanchez
27/08/2021
Consistent customer prospecting is one of the most efficient ways to secure more sales within the current month. Learn prospecting techniques that will help you win new customers, understand how to sell more and still have a very solid base. What is customer prospecting? Just to start with an overview of the sales scenario in companies, with a statistic that refers to digital marketing agencies: in around 70% of agencies, the people responsible for bringing in clients are the partners; more than 41% do not have a sales model and more than 67% do not have commercial goals. This scenario is for digital agencies, but this data could be directed to any segment of companies, especially B2B, because having a more organized and efficient sales team, having sales processes and goals are fundamental for the results of any business. These processes include customer prospecting, which has been statistically confirmed to represent at least 50% of the success of a sale. Prospecting is one of the stages of the sales funnel, which aims to investigate new leads in order to try to contact them. However, it needs to be a structured analysis process, to try to qualify them to enable the effective completion of the sale. In addition to Inbound Marketing techniques, there are countless ways to prospect customers and can help a sales team reach its goals. How to prospect customers? A well-structured sales team needs a key professional for prospecting customers, which is the SDR, or pre-salesperson. This professional's role is to connect and qualify the lead, to deliver it more “ready” to the professional who will make the sale. In addition to the leads that arrive through digital marketing tools, when this professional “goes out” in search of new clients, he can count on numerous prospecting channels, ranging from networking, searching for new connections on social networks and even researching new companies in the market, which may be potential clients. But an important point when prospecting new customers is understanding which social network the ideal prospect for the solution your company offers is on. Another fundamental aspect is to define goals, which can be weekly, biweekly or monthly, which will show the revenue objectives, how many sales, etc. And, above all, be faithful to these goals, because they will help you understand even the number of calls that must be made to reach the estimated numbers for the month. Understand your prospect well Another important aspect is that to prospect well, with planning and alignment, the professional must understand the pains and dreams of their prospect well, carrying out prior research, to start a conversation in a well-founded way that generates interest. These prospect surveys can be carried out using data contained in forms filled out by leads after downloading rich materials or through other channels for prospecting new customers, such as social media. But don't stop at this data, you also need to know how to ask the right questions during this first contact to better understand what the objectives of this future client would be. In this first contact, the tip is to try to create a relationship and generate value. The initial conversation should not contain the word sell, but rather help the prospect solve a problem. He won't always be convinced of this on the first contact, but leave a new conversation open, to give him time for the information to become clearer. Therefore, whether prospecting clients by phone, email or even messaging to search for new connections on social networks, such as Linkedin, it is important to have a script that must be followed. The sales professional should not have the view that their contacts (by phone, email or other means) are bothering the prospect. Their mindset should be: “I am offering a solution to your problem!” However, do not force it, carefully circumvent objections when offering your solution and leave the path open for a next conversation and, if possible, even schedule it. This could still be a high-potential contact on your prospecting list. A very important aspect is that all conversation data is updated in the CRM (Customer Relationship Management), which will provide a basis and deadlines for a new conversation, even if there is a customer prospecting spreadsheet in parallel. Customer prospecting: believe in your company's solution Another essential aspect is that the pre-seller or even the seller who will close the contract, believes in the solution itself. To achieve this, it is important that companies have well-tuned and qualified professionals on their sales team, who feel confident about the solutions offered and are fully knowledgeable about the topic of conversation. Therefore, the ideal is for companies to offer constant training to their teams. It is also important for sales professionals to take self-development paths, with materials such as podcasts and videos on negotiation and sales techniques. Invest in the culture of Role Plays in the sales team To fully master the solution presented to prospects, in addition to constant team training, also use Role Plays. By the way, do you know this technique? Role Plays are calls made between members of the internal sales team, to provide training on objection handling in a safe environment and make the sales pitch more personalized and aligned. These connections are interesting for collecting feedback. This way, the team leader will be able to provide important feedback to the team, because based on a real situation, he or she will be able to direct future responses to customers. To do this, it is interesting to establish a routine for practicing Role Play within the team, with fixed days of the week and specific times. This way, professionals will be able to schedule their prospecting and sales closing activities at different times. But it should be a quick and practical process, teams can do this training in 15 to 20 minutes. During this training, map out common objections that are real and learn how to overcome them. So when the situation occurs with a prospect, the salesperson will be sharp. Furthermore, Role Play even serves to train how to ask the right questions to the prospect. It doesn't matter if professionals make mistakes during Role Play, what matters is creating a safe training environment so that the error does not occur later and “away from home”. And remember to tell the sales team to note down when new objections arise to create a collection of doubts and new opportunities to overcome them in the right way, creating an objection bypass flowchart. Referrals from current clients When this prospecting process is carried out efficiently, sales are closed and clients are well served, it is even possible to create a referral program for new prospects. When customers feel good about the service or product offered by a company, it is almost “natural” that they feel comfortable recommending your company’s services to other customers. For this referral program to work, one tip is to think about bonuses so that current customers feel motivated to suggest new prospects. Conclusion Now that you understand more about customer prospecting, what it is, and have received some tips, do not ignore the importance of this important stage of the sales funnel. The best news is that there are practically inexhaustible sources for finding these new customers.

How does consistent customer prospecting yield new sales?

Consistent customer prospecting is one of the most efficient ways to secure more sales within the current month.

Learn prospecting techniques that will help you win new customers, understand how to sell more and still have a pretty solid foundation.

What is customer prospecting?

Just to start with an overview of the sales scenario in companies, with a statistic that refers to digital marketing agencies: in around 70% of agencies, the people responsible for bringing in clients are the partners; more than 41% do not have a sales model and more than 67% do not have commercial goals.

This scenario is for digital agencies, but this data could be directed to any segment of companies, especially B2B, because having a more organized and efficient sales team, having sales processes and goals are fundamental for the results of any business.

These processes include customer prospecting, which has been statistically confirmed to represent at least 50% of the success of a sale.

Prospecting is one of the stages of sales funnel, which aims to investigate new leads in order to try to contact them. However, it needs to be a structured analysis process, to try to qualify them to enable the effective completion of the sale.

In addition to the techniques of Inbound Marketing, there are countless ways to prospect customers and can help a sales team reach its goals.

How to prospect customers?

A well-structured sales team needs a key professional for prospecting customers, which is the SDR (Sales Development Representative), or pre-salesperson. This professional's role is to connect and qualify the lead, to deliver it more “ready” to the professional who will make the sale.

In addition to the leads that arrive through digital marketing tools, when this professional “goes out” in search of new clients, he can count on numerous prospecting channels, ranging from networking, searching for new connections in social networks and even research on new companies in the market, which could be potential clients.

But one important point to prospecting for new customers is understand which social network is the ideal prospect for the solution your company offers. 

Another fundamental aspect is to define goals, which can be weekly, biweekly or monthly, which will show the revenue objectives, how many sales, etc. 

And, above all, be faithful to these goals, because they will help you understand even the number of calls that must be made to reach the estimated numbers for the month.

Understand your prospects well

Another important aspect is that to prospect well, with planning and alignment, the professional must understand the pains and dreams of their prospect well, carrying out prior research, to start a conversation in a well-founded way that generates interest.

These prospect surveys can be conducted using data contained in forms filled out by leads after downloading rich materials or through other channels for prospecting new customers, such as social media. But don't stop at this data; you also need to know how to ask the right questions during this first contact to better understand what the goals of this future customer would be.

In this first contact, the tip is to try to create a relationship and generate value. The initial conversation should not contain the word sell, but rather help the prospect solve a problem. 

He won't always be convinced of this on the first contact, but leave a new conversation open, to give him time for the information to become clearer.

Therefore, be it in prospecting for customers by phone, email or even messages to search for new connections on social networks, such as Linkedin, it is important to have a script that must be followed.

The sales professional should not have the view that their contacts (by phone, email or other means) are bothering the prospect, their mindset should be: “I am offering a solution to your problem!”

However, don't force it, carefully work around objections when offering your solution and leave the way open for a next conversation and, if possible, even schedule it. This could still be a contact with great potential in your life. prospecting list of customers.   

A very important aspect is that all conversation data is updated in the CRM (Customer Relationship Management), which will provide a basis and deadlines for a new conversation, even if there is a customer prospecting spreadsheet in parallel. 

ebook how to structure your company to be successful with digital marketing

Customer prospecting: believe in your company's solution

Another essential aspect is that the pre-seller or even the seller who will close the deal believes in the solution itself. To achieve this, it is important that companies have well-tuned and qualified professionals on the sales team, who feel confident about the solutions offered and fully understand the topic of the conversation.

Therefore, it is ideal for companies to offer ongoing training to their teams. It is also important for sales professionals to take self-development paths, with materials such as podcasts and videos about negociation techniques and sales.

Invest in the culture of Role Plays in the sales team

To fully master the solution presented to prospects, in addition to constant team training, also use Role Plays. By the way, are you familiar with this technique? 

Role Plays are calls made between members of the internal sales team, to provide training on objection handling in a safe environment and make the sales pitch more personalized and aligned.

These calls are useful for collecting feedback. The team leader can provide important feedback to the team, because based on a real situation, they can direct future responses to customers.

To do this, it is a good idea to establish a routine for practicing Role Play within the team, with fixed days of the week and specific times. This way, professionals can schedule their prospecting and sales closing activities at different times.

But it should be a quick and practical process, teams can do this training in 15 to 20 minutes.

During this training, map out common objections that are real and learn how to overcome them. This way, when the situation arises with a prospect, the salesperson will be ready. In addition, the Role Play also serves to train how to ask the right questions to the prospect.

It doesn't matter if professionals make mistakes during Role Play, what matters is creating a safe training environment so that the error does not occur later and “away from home”. 

And remember to tell the sales team to note down when new objections arise to create a collection of doubts and new opportunities to overcome them in the right way, creating an objection bypass flowchart.

Seek referrals from current portfolio clients

When this prospecting process is carried out efficiently, sales are closed and customers are well served, it is even possible to create a referral program for new prospects.

When customers feel good about the service or product offered by a company, it is almost “natural” that they feel comfortable recommending your company’s services to other customers. 

For this referral program to work, one tip is to think about bonuses so that current customers feel motivated to suggest new prospects.

Conclusion

Now that you understand more about customer prospecting, what it is, and have received some tips, don't ignore the importance of this important stage of the sales funnel. The best news is that there are practically inexhaustible sources for finding these new customers.

The more your company prospects, the better known it will become!

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