Prospecting for Gold and Customers

Identification and/or Calling

“…there are few thrills comparable to finding gold.”

from Prospecting for Gold by Harold Kirkemo

Looking around the various sources of sales wisdom in search of the definition of prospecting, I noticed some significant differences. So, I decided to break the definition down into pieces and let the reader decide which parts to make their own.

The Prospect.

It starts with the understanding of who the action of prospecting is all about, the prospects. A prospect is an individual or an organization that fits a seller’s criteria to be a potential customer. The main criteria are captured by way of defining the target market (for the organization) and the target persona or buyer profile (for the individual).

A prospect is not a lead. In my definition, a lead always is an individual that was a prospect and was then qualified against a set of criteria, e.g., BANT. But some definitions describe it just the other way around. Just semantics, or is there more to it?

What?

What is the act of prospecting? Some define it as "identification," finding an individual or an organization that is a potential customer. Others define the act as "calling," making outbound calls or sending outbound emails. For yet others, it includes both.

Who?

Who does the prospecting? If prospecting involves identification, there are tools and data sources available to help you. Directories can help filter out a list of companies to target. A platform like LinkedIn that focuses on people can help you identify the decision-makers, the people you need to sell to. In the case of "identification," the task of prospecting happens mostly automated and does not require a sales skillset.

When prospecting involves "calling," or both "identification" and "calling," this changes dramatically. Now a specific skill set is required, like that of an SDR. In organizations where the salesperson is responsible for the entire sales process, time, resources, and training have to be set aside expressly for prospecting.

Why?

What is the goal of prospecting? It is obviously part of the larger and overriding goal of selling the products or services of a business, and as such, integrated into the sales process. Prospecting is a precursor to selling. It creates a database of potential customers and allows marketing and/or sales to be more efficient in their efforts. Not every potential converts into an actual customer, but marketing and sales efforts are only spent on those that fit the profile, resulting in more targeted messaging and higher conversion.

By now, you, the reader, have built your own definition of prospecting.

For a sales team that wants to move beyond cold calling and improve their conversion, prospecting is a highly relevant topic. And one that requires attention, as these statistics from a survey by Selling Power and Janek Performance Group show:

“Many sales leaders fail to monitor any prospecting metrics or efforts among their salespeople. 18% indicated their company does not set out specific metrics/goals on how much time reps should spend prospecting and conducting business development efforts. 32% of sales leaders indicated they don’t know how much time reps prospect; the same percentage indicated they don’t track rep prospecting time at all.”

“Best-in-class sales teams do a number of things well compared to their underperforming peers. 82.8% have clearly defined buyer profiles (compared to 57.4% of laggards). 86.2% have clearly defined target markets (compared to 69.6% of laggards)”

Contact us to find out how a fractional or interim sales leader can help to jumpstart your prospecting.

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 Photo by Anne Gosewehr