Filling Your Pipeline with the Right Kinds of Prospects

Part 1 of 3: Target the Right Suspects (2018年1月22日)

By David Yesford

“Too much rejection . . . time away from my customers . . . too hard!” Sound familiar? These common statements made by salespeople explain why they don’t like to prospect. Ultimately, prospecting is seen as “a lot of work with no guaranteed return.” In order to remain relevant as a salesperson, you must prospect. And you must prospect differently than you might have in the past—if you want to keep the pipeline full and develop new business.

Some experienced professionals manage to schedule appointments with most of the prospects they contact, and they’re able to turn a big percentage of those meetings into sales. How do they do it?

There are three parts to the answer. The first part is this: Instead of playing a numbers game, they ask, “Which companies are most likely to be good for us?” With this question in mind, they filter their initial list of “suspects” to create a short list of the most likely prospects. Now they can make earlier go/no-go decisions and invest their time in a smaller group of companies most likely to offer good business opportunities.

Here’s how it can work for you:

Instead of making a random list of every company in your territory, develop a profile describing the characteristics of your “ideal” customer. Use the profile as a filter to do some up-front research on your possible prospecting candidates.

For example, you might be looking for evidence that a company . . .

• Matches your economic and strategic priorities
• Has the right level of profitability and fits your industry/market segment requirements
• Has healthy annual sales/net income
• Is the right size and has the right number of employees
• Is in your target geographic location
• Has the budget and ability to spend on what you sell, or evidence of buying from companies similar to yours

Once these questions have been answered, you can sort out the list of suspects and cross off the ones that don’t meet the criterion of “good for us.” Those who are left will become your Strong Suspects—those you can leverage into good potential prospects.

Using this filter could actually make prospecting a positive experience, leading to more satisfying calls, more sales, and increased revenue.

Share via:

您可能也有兴趣阅读

 文章: 3 Winning Strategies for Prospecting: Right Prospects, Right Message, Right Attitude

 博客: Filling Your Pipeline with the Right Kinds of Prospects: Part 2 of 3: Convert Your Strong Suspects to Good Prospects

 博客: Filling Your Pipeline with the Right Kinds of Prospects: Part 3 of 3: Right Message, Right Person

 type_Product: 成功开拓客户的技巧 (Counselor Prospecting)

作者介绍

David Yesford

David Yesford担任Wilson Learning全球高级副总裁，在制定和实施人力绩效解决方案领域拥有超过27年的经验。他为客户在战略方向和全球化视角方面带来了宝贵的经验。David曾参与销售及领导、在线学习和战略咨询领域的核心内容设计。David目前也是Wilson Learning全球执行委员会的成员。他曾担任中国和印度的总经理职务。他是多本书的特约作者，包括《双赢销售》，《灵活应变销售》，《社交风格手册》和《销售培训图书2》。David是一个活跃的全球演讲者，并在美国、欧洲、拉丁美洲和亚太地区的商业刊物发表了大量的文章。

阅读更多， David Yesford