While many sellers avoid the activity of prospecting like the plague, prospecting is the lifeblood of generating new business. It is an essential activity for successful salespeople.
Prospecting can be challenging. There are problems finding and getting through to the prospect. It takes a significant amount of time and effort to be effective, generate a list, and manage the numerous touches necessary to be a successful prospector.
In fact, recently I’m seeing that it takes 10-12 points of contact to connect with a prospect. In other words, connect rates are typically 8% - 10%. Then once you get them, converting the “connect” to a meeting is tough.
You only have a limited amount of time to get the prospect’s attention and convert the “connect” into a meeting. And even if a prospect is interested in what you have to say, you may have reached them at a bad time and so the prospect says “not interested” or “I am all set” just to get you off the phone. It is not uncommon for even highly skilled prospectors to convert only 10% of “connects” into meetings. In other words, 90% of the prospects you finally get on the phone will probably say “no.” No wonder salespeople hate prospecting.
It’s simple. Turn your efforts toward referral prospecting. Referral prospecting simply means prospecting through people that you know -- your existing contacts, clients and business partners.
Why? Referral prospecting is the quickest way of filling your pipeline with opportunities. Most research shows that leads close five times faster when they come through referrals. Think about your own experiences: if you get a referral to a real estate agent, a new app, or a great CPA, the first call you make will be to the one that someone has referred you to. Likewise, if a salesperson calls you and says they were referred by someone you know, chances are you will at least listen to what that salesperson has to say.
It is human nature to put a greater degree of trust in information that comes from people that we know. This is particularly powerful in a sales environment where a salesperson may be viewed by the prospect as having an inherent conflict of interest (i.e., they want to sell something).
Yet in my experience facilitating 100’s of sales training workshops I am always shocked how few salespeople regularly use referral prospecting.
While salespeople will always struggle with prospecting, generating new businesss can significantly increase with referral prospecting.