Below is a list of 20 things I have found in common with the top 1% of all sales prospectors. Notice that each item on the list is an action. That’s right, they are things you can do! To be great at prospecting, you don’t have to be born with the “sales gene.” It simply means that you must make it happen day after day.
Check out my video where I talk more about what it takes to be in the top 1% of all sales prospectors:
As you go through the list, don’t just read it. Think through each item and see which ones pop out and demand your attention. You might assume your goal is to do each one of these things at super salesperson level. Yes, that’s the long-term goal but right now, focus in on one action and master it. After you have mastered one, take another and continue the process.
Sales is not a destination, sales is a journey. This list is a step forward in your sales journey.
1. Commit to prospecting, regardless of what else needs to be done.
2. Focus on quality leads, not just a list.
3. Persist beyond what anyone else will do.
4. Use multiple processes that fit each segment they prospect.
5. Don’t rely on marketing for your leads.
6. Embrace technology, but don’t let it control you or them.
7. Commit to help other people beyond their customers.
8. Know the most valuable asset they have is their own time.
9. Work consistently to improve their process and more quickly engaging the prospect.
10. Understand the real measurement of their ability to prospect is in their ability to close.
11. Never rely on one form of communication. Know what tool to use and when to use it.
12. Keep the pipeline clean by not allowing it to fill up with prospects that aren’t going anywhere.
13. Use the telephone heavily. Know the potential that a live conversation has in moving a prospect forward faster than anything else.
14. Have a social media presence but do not be overly dependent on it.
15. Be goal oriented to the point of being obsessed.
16. Commit to the customer and their needs, not just on what they sell.
17. Have a marketing plan to remain in touch with those people who aren’t active in the prospecting or buying cycle.
18. Own your prospect’s process.
19. Maintain an optimistic attitude.
20. View prospecting not as an activity, but rather as a lifestyle that you live.
Copyright 2019, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results
