Marketing is constantly evolving and sales techniques are constantly adapting to new customer expectations. However, if there’s one thing that remains essential, it’s sales prospecting.
Discover 5 secrets for optimising your sales prospecting and your results.
1. Perfect knowledge of the market and your prospects
Knowing your market, the trends and the players in it are the best assets for successful sales prospecting. So you need to be flexible and adapt your approach to meet your prospects’ expectations. The best way to do this is to get to know your contacts, their issues and their needs.
Creating personas
Personas are typical profiles that represent your ideal customers. They take into account all the useful characteristics such as the size of the company, the sector of activity, the needs, the potential for development and the position of the person you are talking to. All you then need to do is adapt your message to each persona.
2. Preparing the first contact with your prospect
You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. In other words, the first contact is decisive. On the phone, by email or in person, you need to convince them of the value of your approach. Only excellent preparation will enable you to capture your contact’s attention.
Preparing a powerful pitch
Your pitch will be your secret weapon. Right from the introduction, you need to captivate your prospect and make them want to hear your sales pitch. Your dialogue must be clear, concise and catchy. Ultimately, it all boils down to one sentence: your prospect has a problem and you have the solution. Never forget that a sales meeting is not a soporific monologue, but a constructive dialogue. Be a good listener!
3. Building customer loyalty to facilitate sales prospecting
A satisfied customer can become an active reference. They’ll want nothing more than to become an ambassador for your company, especially if it’s in their interest. Loyalty schemes that can lead to referrals are excellent ways of developing your customer base.
Keeping in touch with your customers
Start by maintaining and strengthening contact with your customers. Anticipate their needs and desires. You can keep them up to date with your new products, tell them about complementary products, offer them exclusive deals or invite them to private events. Remember that they are already convinced by your company.
4. Digitalising your sales prospecting
Optimising your sales prospecting has become much simpler with the many digital tools available on the market. Today you can access quality information on companies, automate various processes and produce accurate reports on your marketing and sales actions.
Taking advantage of social networks
Social networks are a valuable source of information about companies, their activities and their communications. Often, you will find the opportunity to get in touch with key people within organisations and develop your professional network in the process.
Setting up a CRM
If you have more than a certain number of customers, it’s hard to imagine managing your sales prospecting effectively without using Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
This enables you to centralise all the information about your customers and prospects, track the history of your actions and plan your sales activity. The other advantage of CRM is that it allows you to automate tasks such as sending e-mails or chasing up prospects. You’ll save time and never forget to take any sales action.
5. Perseverance and the ability to bounce back
Commercial prospecting is more like a marathon than a sprint. Only perseverance and regular, continuous effort pay off. There will be setbacks, rejections and obstacles along the way, but the important thing is to bounce back each time.
You’ll face rejections, failures and obstacles, but it’s essential not to get discouraged and to always bounce back after a setback.
Learning from mistakes
Failures are not obstacles, but opportunities to learn. You need to analyse precisely why a prospect did not become a customer. Understanding what went wrong is the best way to find out how to improve your sales prospecting and therefore your results.
Now you’re armed to face the jungle that is your market and your competitors. However, you should be aware that, even with the best will in the world, it can be difficult to achieve your objectives.
When this is the case, it’s time to consider getting help with your sales prospecting,
and call in a sales agency specialising in prospecting.
At Heronviews, we can optimise your marketing and sales strategy and put in place processes that will give you the edge over your competitors, so don’t hesitate to contact us to find out more.