One of the things we learn when we work with clients is that there's often not a very good mix, if any mix at all, of prospecting activities. But having the right prospecting mix is critical for success in sales. Here are the first of several steps to analyzing and creating the right prospecting mix.
Increase the number of prospecting activities.
Increasing your number of prospecting activities helps you discover new ones. Now, it's possible you've already found the most effective prospecting activity for you, but it's also likely that you haven't. By adding new types of prospecting activities, you may find something more effective than what you're currently doing.
One of our clients is a roofer. He tried something new for prospecting and started visiting open houses on the weekends to meet new real estate agents. That's not a good prospecting activity for lots of people, but it's a great opportunity for a roofer.
Invest the most time in the most effective activities.
How does this help you? If you're spending more time working on your most effective prospecting activities, the return is greater.
In one of our workshops, we do a short activity to help people analyze where their time and energy is going compared to where it should be going. It's an eye opener for a lot of people.
What's one of the most effective and efficient ways to touch a lot of people from a prospecting standpoint? Cold calls. Few people like doing them, but you can make a lot of phone calls in a short period of time. If we really want to be effective and efficient, cold calls are one of the single best ways.
With both of these steps, be sure to measure how things are working for you. After all, you can't determine what's most effective for you if you aren't measuring it.