I get asked this question far too often and it’s actually one of the main reasons why I wrote my new book, A Mind For Sales. Prospecting starts with your mindset and how you look at it. If you tell yourself you can’t, guess what you won’t! The prospecting solution contains multiple answers. I’m going to break them all down for you here, but a quick summary is two words: mind and process. 

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Effective prospecting comes down to aligning your mind and your process.  You can win with having one much stronger than the other, but over time, the imbalance will wear you down.  It’s like your car always wanting to steer hard to the left. You can still drive the car by compensating in pulling the wheel to the right; although, eventually you will wear down the tires, the steering and other parts of the car.  When the steering is properly aligned, the car steers correctly creating less wear and tear on the tires, steering, etc.   

Top-performing salespeople are aligned in their mindset and their process, just like the steering of their car. The issue is that the majority of salespeople swing from one side to the other. One week they have a great mindset but their process is out of whack, and the next week, their process is completely in line yet their attitude is poor.

Review the following questions to begin developing your mindset: 

1. What outcomes do you help my customers achieve?  You’re in sales to help others achieve their outcomes.  Focus on the outcomes you create as a responsibility and an honor. 
   
2. Who do you need to have in a mastermind group to keep you focused?  We become like those we associate with most.  If you want to become great, spend time with those who are great. 
   
3. What activities do you need to let go of that are holding back your mind?  Excuses are nothing more than excuses. If you’re going to be a motivated person, you don’t have time for excuses. You don’t have time for unproductive tasks. 

Review the following questions to begin developing your process:  

1. Do you believe you can help people? If you know you can help, it’s your responsibility to connect with them. If you don’t reach out, you are actually hurting them even more than yourself.  
   
2. What outcome do you create and who will most benefit from it? When you’re clear about how you help people and the type of people you help, you’ll be in a position of knowing who to prospect and who not to prospect. 
   
3. Where are these people and what are the best methods to reach them?  It’s not about what works best for you or how you prefer to reach out to people. If you want to reach others, you have to use the methods that they like, that will have the greatest probability of them using themselves.
   
4. What questions can you ask and information can you share to engage them? If you look at the outcomes and benefits you create, work on building questions and insights that will move your prospect’s thinking in that direction. Your goal in prospecting is not to lecture but to have a conversation. 
   
5. What do you need to do to ensure you have the time to prospect? This is about removing things from your calendar and really being tough enough on yourself to dedicate blocks of time to prospect and then follow through. Do not deviate from your prospecting schedule. 
   
6. What is cadence will you use?  One and done is not a strategy. To reach a prospect, it might take you 10 – 20 touches. Developing the right cadence and sequence of activities is critical.  The contact frequency will vary based on what you’re selling, who you’re selling to and several other factors. Don’t ever think it’s a one-size-fits-all or that you can merely copy what others do.   

In order to be successful in prospecting, it is essential that you create the right cadence and execute it well.  This is where having the right mindset about selling and prospecting is so important.  Without the right mindset, you’re unlikely to follow through on the cadence. Failing to following through on the cadence decreases your probability of ever being successful in prospecting.   Executing the cadence and having the right mindset are not mutually exclusive; they feed off of each other. 

I want you to read my new book, A Mind For Sales where I dig deep into this issue. I strongly believe many salespeople never achieve their full potential not because of bad customers or bad products.  No! I believe they fail to achieve their full potential because of their mindset and their inability to see and listen to the customer. Having the right process allows you to see and listen at an even higher level.  Your mind and your process support one another and they always will.   

Copyright 2020, 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