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Prospecting for More Sales - A Ten-Part Series

Written by: Lawrence Atkinson

Article Overview: In this series, we explore all the different avenues of prospecting necessary for a business to succeed. Think of your business as a a beautiful garden, and then consider all the things you need to do to keep that garden beautiful and growing, rather than dreary, dead or decaying. Need help with Prospecting. Feel free to get in touch with us via our website.

Prospecting for More Sales - A Ten-Part Series

Part One

Each and every one of us, whether we work for ourselves or work for someone else, should now really be thinking in terms of going to work as if you were running your own business. This is never more so important than it is today, when we have so many pressures on us to retain business, and our customers are being entertained by the competition to move…

Your business is a bit like a garden. It can either blossom or become overrun by weeds, or just wither away and die - it all depends upon your attitude to nurturing growth. To attract customers to your business you have to establish it properly.

It takes a lot of careful planning and hard work to nurture your business, as it does your garden, but it can be very rewarding - just as a beautiful garden is a pleasure to behold. When you have it where you want it to be you can justifiably stand back and feel proud of your achievements. However, when does your business ever stand still long enough for that to happen?

You cannot stop there - just like a garden you have to weed and water it. If you do not, growth will be stifled, and once it stops growing it starts to die, and your business will never flourish.

Your established customers are the basis on which to build your business – you probably already know that. However growth is a sign of health and vigour and if your business is not growing then there's a good chance that we are in the early stages of decay.

To stop the rot setting in, you need to develop a well-organised “attack” and seek out new business opportunities so that you will prosper and grow. What this means is, you have to think about developing an effective approach to prospecting.

Regrettably, many people just sat back in their offices waiting for the business to come in. Don’t laugh, I have seen it! Do you?

Let’s assume your product range is very good, and your service is excellent, but how different is that to what your competitors offer? Somewhere, someone is selling to somebody, something that is just as good as what you have. So where does that leave you then?

Well, the first thing you can do is make sure that the customers actually know that you are in business. (See Lesson One: Get Noticed!)

Why are you in business; what are your business goals? I believe the number one reason for any of us to be in business is to help our customers achieve their goals. By assisting your customers to do that, then we in turn will achieve our goals. However, that’s not the reason I asked the question.

The reason I asked that particular question – what are your business goals? – was to demonstrate the question that is very often neglected in a sales call - finding out exactly what the company's goals are, and where they expect to be in 12 months, five years and ten years. Often this information can be gleaned from an Annual report if available, or other company material. For smaller businesses however, you are going to have to ask.

Continued in Part Two.

Related Articles
  Sales Prospecting Techniques
  Sales Prospecting for Sales Results
  Prospecting it is simple only DOING counts
  Sales Prospecting is the most important skill©
  Prospecting - Time really is money©

Article Tags: attitude, beautiful garden, decay, good chance, health, laugh, new business opportunities, pleasure, running your own business, vigour, weeds, what this means, what your competitors



Related Forum Posts
Prime Means of Selling - Prospecting and Selling aren't the same. Prospecting is finding the few within a target group who are prime candidates for your service. I don't think everyone will agree on what "prime" means but I'd say if the prospects actively want what you're offering and have the ability to pay for what you're offering then they qualify as "prime".
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
Re: Graphic Design Resources - I'll try GIMP. We took a family trip to Hawaii and did the LOST TV Series tour. I want to include some cast members in our photos.
Re: June 3 Triple Crown Leaders - Hi GT - I'm glad they arrived! The EC Series cards are only for Triple Crown winners so they are extra rare. FYI - Stefanie is my sister, not my spouse - she's the first person I hired and she's been doing a great job for me since 2006! Looks like the race just got tighter for this quarter!


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