In this sales prospecting guide, we cover everything you need to know (or need to remember) to hone your sales prospecting funnel. Ready to speed up the sales process, close more deals, and hit your targets faster? Keep reading and add this to your bookmarks for fast access.<\/p>\n
Sales prospecting 101<\/h2>\n
Before we dive into the step-by-step guide, let\u2019s review some basic definitions.<\/p>\n
What is sales prospecting?<\/h3>\n
Sales prospecting is the process of identifying potential customers or potential buyers (also called prospects) who fit your ideal customer profile (ICP) with the goal of adding them to your sales funnel<\/a>. Once you\u2019ve identified your prospects and added them to your CRM, your objective is to nurture them until they are ready to convert into paying customers.<\/p>\n Although leads and prospects play a similar role in the sales cycle, they have significant differences worth spelling out.<\/p>\n Leads are individuals who have indicated an interest in your company\u2019s product or service by filling out a lead form with their contact information or interacting with your content (i.e. reading blog posts, subscribing to your weekly newsletter, downloading an eBook, sharing your LinkedIn post with their network, and so on).<\/p>\n Although lead generation is important, it does not guarantee that you will get quality leads that are a good fit for your company. That\u2019s why strategic sales teams devote resources to the lead qualification process<\/a> and lead scoring<\/a>, as these processes enable them to narrow down inbound leads to those that fit their ideal customer profile (ICP<\/a>).<\/p>\n On the other hand, a prospect is someone who your sales reps have already determined matches your ICP based on specific criteria, such as their industry, company size, position, need, and purchasing authority \u2013 even if they never displayed an interest in your company.<\/p>\n Many sales teams have even more granular criteria for their ideal prospects, such as the regions where they conduct business, the volume of their website traffic<\/a>, monthly online sales, and revenue. Although having this information makes prospecting far more effective, only certain types of solutions offer these kinds of insights.<\/p>\n Sales prospecting is key for building a successful sales pipeline, ensuring your sales reps are using their time efficiently, and ultimately, closing more deals.<\/p>\n With a thoughtful and strategic approach to your sales prospecting efforts, you can zero in on the prospects that have the greatest chances of becoming paying customers. This helps you to fill your quotas and hit your targets faster. Prospecting also allows you to hold meaningful conversations with potential customers and provide them with real value, setting the groundwork for long-term retention. Whether it’s a cold email or a cold call, or a contact further down the line, you will be better equipped when you have the right messaging.<\/p>\n Not all sales prospecting processes are created equal. Here are five steps to optimize your sales prospecting funnel<\/a> to close more deals:<\/p>\n During the first step, you\u2019ll research your prospect list to see who qualifies to enter the sales funnel. Doing research also prepares you to offer potential prospects real-world value. To that end, you\u2019ll want to answer the following questions:<\/p>\n After researching prospects and deciding how to approach them, you\u2019ll need to prioritize which ones your reps should communicate with first. Continually prioritizing your prospects as new ones enter the pipeline will help you ensure the biggest potential deals and those that promise to provide the greatest lifetime value remain at the top.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Most often, the person at the other end of the prospecting process will be either an influencer or a decision-maker. While only decision-makers have the authority to decide if their company will buy your product or service, influencers are still valuable. Often, they are the ones who would be using your product or service, so helping them realize a true need for your offering is still crucial.<\/p>\n If your prospect is an influencer, you\u2019ll want to ask them to invite a decision-maker into the conversation. If you approach both conversations right, your influencer can help you close the deal.<\/p>\n If you decide to move forward with a prospect and have a discovery call<\/a>, you should use the first contact to accomplish a few key goals:<\/p>\n The key to effective discovery phone calls with new prospects is to be friendly and personal, so the prospects feel comfortable and aren’t itching to get off the phone. Listen more than you talk \u2013 the purpose of this call is really for you to understand the prospect\u2019s needs and further qualify them. And when you finally discuss your company\u2019s offering, keep it brief so the prospect will be interested enough in scheduling a follow-up meeting, where you can give a full sales pitch.<\/p>\n By this stage, you should have a pretty solid understanding of your prospects’ needs and pain points. Now, you can decide if you will continue to follow up with the prospect or not. The stage is key for effective prospecting in real-time.<\/p>\n When qualifying a prospect, you\u2019ll want to cover the following three points:<\/p>\n After you have qualified the prospect, demonstrated your offering\u2019s functionality and value, and aligned with them on priorities and goals, hopefully, the prospect is ready to close the deal. Depending on your industry, offering, and price point, it can be weeks, months, or even a year before a prospect is ready to close. B2B sales, for example, differs greatly from B2C sales.<\/p>\n Whenever the deal is closed, that is the time for sales professionals to celebrate. These steps enable you to reach your individual and team sales goals, win the company more revenue, and crush your targets.<\/p>\n The most successful approach to prospecting is one that takes into account each individual prospect\u2019s context and \u201ctemperature.\u201d Not only should your sales reps understand who the new prospect is and what their challenges are, but they should also tailor their communication to the prospect\u2019s level of familiarity with your offering.<\/p>\n You can achieve this by combining account-based marketing tactics<\/a> with cold outreach. This is an effective sales approach.<\/p>\n Account-based marketing<\/b> (or ABM<\/a>) is an outbound growth strategy<\/a> in which marketing and sales teams work together to mutually identify, target, and convert high-value accounts with personalized content. This is also one of the many important digital marketing terms<\/a> you need to know.<\/p>\n By integrating account-based marketing practices into your sales prospecting approach, you can help qualified prospects generate authentic interest in your offering and \u201cwarm\u201d them up with targeted, valuable content.<\/p>\n By establishing a connection and providing highly-relevant information to your prospects, you can initiate the education process before and throughout your outreach and follow-up activities. Once your prospect begins seeing your company\u2019s content as a valuable source of information, it will be easier to adopt an advisor\/consultant role.<\/p>\n There are many sales prospecting tools<\/a> out there, each with similar capabilities, give or take. They all promise to simplify prospecting by increasing processes efficiency or automating outreach. But to truly make a difference, you need reliable data<\/a>.<\/p>\nLeads vs. prospects: What\u2019s the difference?<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n1. Research<\/b><\/h3>\n
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![\"Craft](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/craft.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n2. Identify decision-makers<\/b><\/h3>\n
3. Schedule a meeting<\/b><\/h3>\n
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4. Qualify your prospect<\/b><\/h3>\n
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5. Close the deal<\/b><\/h3>\n
Give your prospecting a boost with account-based marketing<\/h2>\n
![\"Account-Based-Marketing-Definition\"](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Account-Based-Marketing-Definition.png\")
<\/p>\nYou can do this by:<\/b><\/h4>\n
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The sales prospecting tool that will give your team an edge<\/h2>\n
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