Meeting with a team of salespeople recently, the topic of “bad prospects” came up.
Every salesperson mentioned how they were guilty of having prospects who had little chance of ever becoming a customer.
Question is, “If they have little chance of becoming a prospect, then why should we even think they’re a prospect?” I love asking ask salespeople this question.
The answers vary, but in cutting to the chase, the answer is salespeople keep them around because they’re easy to talk to and they don’t have any better prospects to chase after.
Think about that for a moment and the impact of what that means.
To me it says salespeople are happy to go through the motions of spending time with bad prospects not expecting results, all because they’re too lazy or too ill-equipped to get real prospects.
That is a huge tragedy!
No wonder there are so many salespeople struggling to make their numbers. If you don’t have good prospects, how do you expect to have good customers? If you don’t have good customers, how do you expect to make your quota? It’s not going to happen!
The answer lies in being able to focus your time to allow you to move prospects through the process faster so you can determine if they truly are prospects or merely suspects. In the end, your goal is to be spending more time with fewer prospects, but with prospects who are truly prospects that will become a customer.
Take a look at your CRM. How many “prospects” do you have in your system that are anything but a “prospect?”
Keeping those names in your system to give your boss the impression you’re doing your job is not going to put food on the table!
Your objective today is to cull your list.
I’m not saying to drop people completely, but certainly move them to an in-active list. Give me 3 names with high potential versus 30 random names anyday.
For more ways to develop the best prospecting skills possible, check out Breakthrough Sales University.
Copyright 2015, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
