The Prospecting Habit That Separates Closers from Chasers

The straight-talk summary 

Prospecting is hard, but most salespeople make it harder by winging it. If you want a healthy pipeline, you need to follow a repeatable system built on research, personalization, and consistent outreach that earns you the right to a conversation. Start small, track what works, and build a habit around intentional, high-value activities. The right process will do more for your success than any burst of motivation ever will.

Prospecting has never been easy, but unless you’re adjusting your prospecting techniques, you’re making it even harder than it needs to be. There are proven approaches to prospecting that will make your efforts more effective and efficient.  

We’re big believers in making proactive requests for referrals and introductions the centerpiece of your prospecting strategy. But we’re setting that aside for a moment. I want to discuss ideas for tipping the odds of cold (or at least warm) outreach in your favor while overcoming the most common challenges salespeople face.

• Half of prospecting time is wasted.
• Cold outreach success rates are dropping. 
• Most salespeople don’t follow a repeatable system. 
• Let’s be honest, prospecting kind of sucks. 
  

The evolving rules of prospecting 

The game has changed, and buyers expect more from you than ever before. 

Today’s buyers want you to show up like you already know them. We live in an algorithm-driven world where the internet and social media hand us exactly what we want, often before we’re even aware we want it. That’s the expectation you’re up against. 

Buyers are also more informed than ever. They don’t need you for basic product information; they’re finding that on their own. For them to be willing to engage with you, they need you to teach them something they don’t already know. 

Some truths you can’t ignore: 

• Personalization over volume. Prospecting is no longer about hammering out the highest number of calls or emails. Meaningful, personalized outreach gains more traction. Every message should show insight and an understanding of the buyer.
• Buying is emotional. Even if buyers can’t name their emotional drivers, they have them. You need to connect on both an emotional and a personal level.
• Timing and relevance matter. Use technology to research efficiently and automate low-value activities so you can spend more time on high-value conversations.
• Desperation stinks. If you only prospect when your pipeline is dry, prospects will smell the desperation and won’t like it. Nobody wants to do business with a desperate advisor.
  
  

A smarter prospecting framework 

Here are key steps of a prospecting framework that will allow you to get the attention of the prospects you want and need in your pipeline. 

Identify your ideal suspects.

If you don’t already believe it is an absolute privilege for your clients to have access to you and your team, spend some time reviewing what you do for them. If you’re delivering significant results, working with you IS a privilege that cannot be afforded to everyone willing to sign a broker-of-record letter.

Think about your best clients and start building your ideal client profile by describing what makes them your best clients. Not everyone gets a seat at your table, so seek out suspects who look and behave like your best clients. 

Research and personalize.

Context creates connection. “Mass customization” is your friend. Start with a templated message and then add specific insights you’ve discovered about them through your research: news stories, new hires, promotions, posts, or company wins. 

ChatGPT (or your AI of choice) is a great resource for identifying suspects/prospects and then researching them to glean important insights. Reach out to us if you’d like to discuss successful prompts and techniques. To say it’s powerful would be an understatement. 

Outreach with intention

Technology can keep you consistent and timely, but personalized insights beat volume every time. Show you understand their challenges and are there to help them solve problems, not just sell products. 

And yes, you need to pick up the phone as part of your outreach sequence. 

In Sales EQ, Jeb Blount highlights a sales team in which the top two performers each sold three times the average of the other 23 salespeople. These two were no smarter, more experienced, or better trained. In fact, the only discernible difference between the top two and everyone else was that the top two included phone calls as an important part of their outreach efforts. 

A survey by Salesloft research shows the same thing. They identified that salespeople who combine phone calls with emails will have a response rate 4.8x higher than those who only use email. 

Regardless of your outreach technique, be sure it always asks for a specific call-to-action. After giving the suspect/prospect a reason to be interested in you, you must tell the suspect/prospect what you want them to do next.

Track and optimize.

Prospecting can feel like shouting into a black hole. You may not hear the echo of your efforts, so look to validate your efforts in other ways. Use your CRM, dashboard, and other analytics tools to measure your effectiveness, and then use A/B testing to make necessary adjustments. 

Efficiency matters 

You won’t rise to the level of your goals; you’ll fall to the level of your systems and processes.  

If there is anything close to a “secret sauce” to prospecting, it’s building a prospecting habit around systems and processes. 

Time block.

Set prospecting time up as a recurring meeting on your calendar and treat each session with the importance of a renewal meeting with your best client. Successfully building habits begins with small goals and commitment. Start by scheduling your minimum viable prospecting time, then add to it as you get more comfortable with prospecting activities. 

Batch similar tasks.

Jumping from one activity to another kills efficiency. Set dedicated sessions for calling, researching, connecting online, etc. 

It’s your job

Prospecting may suck, but it’s the core part of the job you signed up for. Your pipeline is either getting healthier, less healthy, or stagnating every single day. Exercising and properly feeding your pipeline daily is the only way to ensure it gets healthier. 

Start by “taking out the trash.” Give your current pipeline an honest review and cleansing. I promise you, it's likely giving you a false sense of sales confidence.  

Once you remove the opportunities that will never close and create a “not now” list for those worth revisiting later, you’ll be staring at your real pipeline. It will likely give you a whole new sense of prospecting motivation.  

Then, focus on these four principles: 

Be intentional.

Set weekly, quantifiable goals and create accountability by sharing them with someone. 

Overcome your fear.

Your number one sales enemy is your fear of prospecting. First, overcome it by believing in the value of your sales conversations and the eventual results you could deliver to them as clients.

Second, recognize that unfamiliar situations are scary. Make the prospecting and sales situation familiar by role-playing and practicing. 

Repetition builds muscle memory.

Follow a simple and repeatable sales process, and your confidence and success will grow every time you practice and use it.  

Small, consistent actions = big results.

Sustainably successful prospecting efforts are built around one thing: a prospecting habit. Like building any habit, start small and build on it as the habit develops. Set initial goals so small that not meeting them is inexcusable. 

Your assignment 

If you are committed to building a prospecting habit, grab on to that “start small” mentality and apply it to the following: 

1. Create a prospecting sequence that includes activities comfortable to do repeatedly: Maybe you’ll ask for a LinkedIn connection → send an email → make a phone call → leave a voicemail → [your next step]. 
2. Identify 10 prospects that seem to fit your ideal client profile. 
3. Each day, research one of the 10 for meaningful insights. 
4. Execute your outreach sequence. At each step, explain how you can help, and clearly ask for the next step you want them to take. 
5. Use technology to automate and assist with research. You can even use AI to help with an initial draft of your messages; just be sure to edit it to "remove the AI" and add in your own voice. 
6. Track your results by measuring what matters. With those insights, make the necessary adjustments.

The hard truth 

Selling is hard, and prospecting is even harder for most people. Stop making it harder than it needs to be. Build the habit, follow a system, and leverage the appropriate tools. 

When you prospect consistently, effectively, and efficiently, everything else you do as an agency or producer gets easier. 

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Content originally published by Q4intelligence

Photo by tirachard