The Ultimate Guide to Sales Prospecting

If you’re looking to grow your audience, sales prospecting is an essential method for doing so.

Our comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you should know about prospecting, including why it’s important, how the process works, types of prospecting methods, strategies for growing your audience, and investing in your sales team.

What Is Sales Prospecting?

Sales prospecting is the process of finding prospects, which are potential clients. Prospects are potential clients. Prospecting is an important part of any strategy, as it helps build a pipeline of folks who are likely to be interested in the solution you’re selling. 

The process usually involves researching, pinpointing, and qualifying folks who might make good customers. 

Sales prospecting vs. lead generation

Both prospecting and lead generation are terms that go hand-in-hand. At the end of the day, they’re both methods for finding potential customers. While lead generation gives teams a pool of potential clients to look at, sales prospecting helps prioritize the most likely folks to convert.

Why is sales prospecting important?

Sales prospecting is important because it provides a good foundation on which teams can build their sales strategy. The process not only helps pinpoint potential clients, but also helps: 

• Form a solid sales pipeline
• Generate sales opportunities
• Facilitate lead generation
• Boost business growth

What does the sales prospecting process look like?

The sales prospecting process can vary depending on a few factors, but in general, it boils down to identifying and qualifying potential clients. The process kicks off with research. Sales reps will find potential customers and research them to learn information like the industry they work in, their role, their employer’s size, and other relevant information.  

Once teams have all the necessary information, they can work on qualifying. Reps look at factors like the client’s budget, whether or not they have the power to make decisions, and their needs and pain points. This data helps sales teams know if they might be a good fit for the solution they’re selling, be it a product or service. From here, teams can prioritize leads based on who’s most likely to convert to a customer. 

The prospecting process also includes the initial contact (like through cold calling or email campaigns) and moving qualified potential customers through the sales pipeline.

Types of Sales Prospecting

There’s not one universal type of prospecting. In fact, there are multiple different channels and avenues when it comes to looking for potential customers. 

Here are the most common types of sales prospecting, from inbound and outbound to referral-based prospecting. 

Inbound vs. outbound sales prospecting

Inbound and outbound prospecting are two of the most common types. The main difference between the two is how the leads are sourced. With inbound sales prospecting, reps use a targeted approach to attract leads to them, whereas outbound prospecting requires reps to proactively contact potential customers. 

Both inbound and outbound sales prospecting have their pros and cons. In general, though, outbound prospecting can be a bit more challenging. For example, it requires more effort, it’s riskier, and this type carries higher rejection rates for reps. Without inbound prospecting, reps have an easier time boosting brand awareness and finding higher-quality leads.

Some examples of outbound sales prospecting methods include things like:

• Email campaigns 
• Social media outreach
• Physical mailers 
• Cold calling

On the other hand, inbound prospecting methods include strategies like:

• SEO strategy (like optimizing site content to attract users)
• Content marketing
• Social media marketing

Referral-based sales prospecting

Referral-based sales prospecting is exactly what it sounds like: Reps lean into existing relationships to find leads. For example, sales teams often leverage existing customer referrals to expand business. It’s a great, cost-effective strategy that can boost a brand’s credibility, increase customer loyalty, and lead to higher conversion rates. 

This type of sales prospecting can be used internally, too. Companies can encourage their employees to refer other people. Some brands even use incentives for employee referrals. 

B2B vs. B2C sales prospecting

Depending on the type and nature of the business, sales prospecting can look a little different. For example, business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) prospecting processes vary. 

With B2B prospecting, sales teams are usually looking at higher transaction values, long-term relationship maintenance, and longer sales cycles. That’s because brands selling products or services to other businesses usually involve more money, more decision-makers, and other nuances and complexities.

B2C sales prospecting, on the other hand, focuses on selling to individual consumers instead of large brands. That translates to smaller purchases, fewer decision-makers, and shorter sales cycles. There’s more of an emphasis on mass marketing and the overall customer experience. 

How to Improve Sales Interactions With Yoodli 

No matter what type of sales prospecting your team uses, practicing interactions with customers is a smart idea. Luckily, with Yoodli, your reps can improve their interactions and increase their chances of sales success without risking real opportunities or clients. 

Yoodli — a sales coach powered by AI technology — provides a platform where reps can use realistic roleplay to improve customer interactions. The more comfortable a sales rep is communicating with prospects and clients, the better. In fact, top companies like Google, Korn Ferry, and Dale Carnegie have all leaned into Yoodli to increase seller attainment and decrease ramp.

Here’s how it works. Yoodli’s platform provides a plethora of existing sales roleplay scenarios to choose from. Reps can also build their own custom roleplay from scratch using Yoodli’s Builder to practice specific scenarios. Whatever the case, reps can engage in human-like conversation with an AI generated partner to best practice their skills and abilities. 

Once the roleplay is finished, Yoodli offers intelligent sales coaching. It’ll highlight areas of improvement for sales reps based on how their roleplay went. For example, Yoodli evaluates your delivery, listening, and speaking patterns to provide actionable tips and feedback. This allows reps to skip the guesswork and go directly to improving customer interactions.  

Yoodli also offers personalization capabilities for admin. For example, companies can adjust the tool for their own use cases, based on their own brand’s methodology. And Yoodli offers enterprise-grade privacy, with SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, and more.

Find out more about how you can get started with Yoodli for free at https://yoodli.ai/ to complement your team’s sales prospecting efforts.

6 Sales Prospecting Methods to Attract Quality Leads

Whether you’re an experienced rep or you’re new to the role, you need to have multiple strategies for prospecting in your arsenal. Here are some of the best sales prospecting methods to attract quality leads. 

Cold calling

One of the most well-known methods for sales prospecting is cold calling. This method involves contacting folks who haven’t shown previous interest in your product or service. Some people think of cold calls as an outdated way to generate sales, but modernized cold calling is a method worth considering. 

For example, in today’s competitive landscape, you can use strategies to personalize your cold call opening lines to better engage with prospects. Modern-day cold calls also emphasize the importance of researching prospects, building rapport, and using tech like automated dialers and voicemail drops.

Cold calling as a sales prospecting method works best when reps: 

• Focus on the prospect’s most pressing needs
• Pair cold calls with other methods for prospecting
• Home in on major decision-makers in target accounts

Email marketing

Another worthwhile sales prospecting strategy is email marketing and targeted email campaigns. Sales teams can put together targeted email lists of potential clients and use marketing tactics to customize emails for prospecting. 

While email marketing can be hit or miss, just like any other prospecting method, sales reps can also monitor and evaluate the results of these campaigns to improve them down the line. For example, teams should plan to track metrics like click-through rates, email open rates, and conversion rates. That way, you’ll be able to see what subject lines do best, which campaigns fell short, and other key insights that can help you adjust your next campaign. 

Networking 

A more underrated way to go about sales prospecting is via networking and participating in industry events. Reps can go to industry events like meetups, conferences, trade shows, and workshops to connect with potential customers and start building relationships. Similarly, you can also join professional associations and organizations to meet other professionals in the industry who can share ideas and introduce you to other potential clients. 

Social selling

With social selling, the idea is to leverage social media platforms for sales prospecting. Although it wasn’t really a consideration 30 years ago, social media has revolutionized many industries, including sales. For example, when sales prospecting, reps can interact with potential customers through professional social media profiles, like on LinkedIn. 

However, for those uncomfortable with engaging with prospects on social media, these platforms can also be used to pinpoint and research potential customers. Platforms like LinkedIn can also be used to:

• Connect with leaders in the industry
• Ideate, write, and share sales and thought leadership content 
• Pinpoint and research major decision-makers 

Teams can even use other platforms, like Facebook, to join relevant groups where they may be able to get more information about potential customers. For example, if you sell products like essential oils, you could join “holistic” Facebook groups to gather more information about your target audience and how you can better sell to them. 

Content marketing

Similarly, content marketing can be a valuable strategy for finding sales prospects. Investing in the time and effort it takes to make high-quality content for potential customers can spark interest in folks who might not have been interested in your solution originally. Teams can leverage content types like articles, webinars, blog posts, videos, and white papers to attract potential customers to their business. Sharing this content on social media platforms, as mentioned above, can improve results. Make sure this content is optimized for search engines and follows solid SEO best practices. 

One specific sales prospecting strategy in content marketing includes leveraging content valuable to prospects in exchange for customer contact data. For example, offering free, downloadable PDFs where customers input their name and email address can provide sales teams with the necessary information they need to follow up.

Referrals

Last but not least, referrals can be a beneficial method for sales prospecting. Reps can lean into their existing relationships with clients to meet and interact with potential customers. Not only that, but sales reps can use their relationships with friends and family to generate referrals and potential business. It’s just another example of why relationship building and rapport are essential in any sales environment.

Common Sales Prospecting Challenges

Sales prospecting isn’t always smooth sailing. In fact, it can be quite the challenge, especially for new or inexperienced reps. Here are some of the most common pitfalls and challenges you might encounter when sales prospecting.

Objections and concerns

When you’re a sales rep, you need to be prepared for customer concerns and pushback. It’s a normal part of the sales process, but objection handling and the ability to adequately address customer concerns are essential. If you find that you’re struggling with objections, plan for the most common objections and prepare what you’d say. For example, one of the most common objections is, “It’s too expensive.” With regard to the solution you’re selling, anticipate that objection and have a thought-out response ready. 

Make sure you face any customer concerns head-on and use probing questions to understand where their concerns are coming from. At the end of the day, you can always reframe concerns as opportunities to show how your product or service can solve their problem. 

Rejection and staying motivated

Facing rejection and staying motivated are some of the all time most common challenges when it comes to sales prospecting. It can be difficult to feel rejected when looking for and communicating with potential customers. 

If you and your team struggle with rejection and staying motivated after the fact, make a plan to be more resilient. In sales, rejection is only natural. Not every potential buyer is going to want to make a sale. Framing any perceived rejection as a learning opportunity can help you develop a more resilient mindset. Working on your emotional intelligence can also make this process a bit easier. 

Managing time wisely

It’s not a secret that sales prospecting can take up a lot of your time. However, it doesn’t have to eat up all your time. You can manage your time wisely by focusing on the most high-value opportunities using return on investment (ROI). Sales teams can use popular tools like customer relationship management (CRM) systems to see where you can automate tasks and save time. 

Although it can be uncomfortable for some reps, learning to say no to activities that waste time is necessary. Extra requests or meetings that aren’t relevant or necessary that you can take off your calendar are great opportunities to save time. 

The Bottom Line 

Sales prospecting is an essential sales strategy to find qualified prospective customers to generate sales. No matter what particular industry you work in, prospecting should be baked into your process for boosting sales. With enablement tools like Yoodli, you can facilitate prospecting for your sales team by investing in their communication skills. 

Sources

• Zendesk: “Sales prospecting.”
• Salesforce: “How to Do Sales Prospecting the Right Way.”