Sales prospecting includes individuals who fit your ideal customer profile and have expressed some level of interest in your product or service. Catch-all prospects aren’t leads, and not all leads are worth pursuing. The secret is to know how to sort through high-potential prospects from time-wasters.
Inbound methods can substitute sales prospecting through SEO, social media, and content marketing, where customers come to you. However, an intense outbound sales process is still necessary for direct engagement and faster conversions.
Is it a number’s game?
- 50% of customers go with the first vendor to reply.
- 92% of B2B purchasers will do business with sales professionals if they view them as industry thought leaders.
- Custom prospecting emails improve response rates by 142% compared to non-personalized emails.
- Companies using a systemized prospecting method enjoy a 30-50% better sales win rate.
The perfect prospect
These days, you need a unique strategy to reach sales prospects. Research their needs and queries to give them the best offer on the market.
Gia hits on a major shift in sales prospecting – one-size-fits-all just doesn’t cut it anymore. People want conversations that feel tailored, not templated. The best sales teams ditch the cookie-cutter pitch and take the time to understand what their prospects care about.
Identifying ideal prospects
Gong, a revenue intelligence solution, struggled with low interest rates and bad prospecting. Instead of taking the traditional cold outreach path, they analyzed customer conversations to gain insights into leading objection points and effective sales techniques. After that, they founded their messaging on real insights.
As a result, Gong increased response rates by 30%, shortened their sales cycle by 25%, and attracted better-quality prospects.
In another instance, HubSpot discovered their sales team spent too much time on low-quality leads. In response, they revised their ideal customer profile (ICP) and implemented a lead scoring system based on levels of engagement, company size, and industry to target only high-intent prospects.
With this approach, their sales team increased their conversion rate by 40% while conserving wasted time on unqualified leads.
Overcoming the cold shoulder
Challenge: You’ve crafted the perfect email, left a voicemail, and even connected on LinkedIn… but silence.
Resolution:
- Step 1: Give value before asking for anything – share an industry tip or insight.
- Step 2: Personalize everything – reference a recent achievement or mutual connection.
- Step 3: Use multi-channel outreach – a mix of emails, LinkedIn messages, and calls improves response rates.
- Step 4: Know when to move on – if there is zero engagement after repeated touchpoints, it’s time to prioritize warmer leads.
Attracting your prospects
- Clearly outline your dream customer profile. (No more spending time on poor leads!)
- Use data-driven prospecting tools.
- Create targeted outreach. (Ditch the paste-and-send emails.)
- Strategically follow up. (Not too early, not too late – just right.)
- Measure and optimize your strategy. (What works? What doesn’t?)
