Prospecting tips to increase your sales pipeline

In this ever-changing business scenario, the method of prospecting is also changing and to match up with the process of successful prospecting; you also need to change your daily sales processes.

Sales processes are developed over time and vary from organization to organization. These processes help you in managing your valuable time and resources and create a pool of opportunities that assist you in maintaining a steady business or grow your business from scratch.

The sales scene has changed a lot in the past few years and if we take these study into account then, on an average fifty-two sales calls are made daily by the salespeople, if we bifurcate these stats further, then it takes roughly eight calls to reach to your prospects.

Another interesting study states that 84% of the B2B decision makers rely on referrals, but only 11% sale personals ask for any references although if they know that the customers are happy, they should at least try instead of shying away from the golden opportunity.

To help you overcome the various changes that the concept of prospecting has gone through, here are five great prospecting tips that we recommend for you:

Tip 1 ’ Strategize Your Cold Calls!

Salesperson: ’’It is so difficult to get a favorable response over the phone nowadays, what should I do to have a successful conversation?’’

We understand the frustration when you cannot get your leads to their phone, and we know it is indeed challenging, so when you do, be well prepared.

Here is one easy strategy:

Combine an introductory email with your phone call

Today your target audience, the prospects, are part of the generation which is always on-the-go and combining your emails with calls will be a much frictionless way of reaching out to them.

Always send an email before you give your prospects a call and keep your email content short and to the point. When you are having a conversation, just remind them of an email that has been sent to them, explain what that email is about and what are the benefits of your product and services and let them know how you can help them out, hence fulfilling the purpose of your call.

No one likes to answer a call that is not giving them any benefit against the amount of time he or she is spending on it.

Tip 2 ’ Anticipate Prospect Reaction

In the process of prospecting, it is inevitable to avoid situations of objections or avoiding the obstacles.

The better outcome from this situation is that there is a degree of similarity in the objections and obstacle that your sales and marketing teams might face. So it becomes imperative to understand these situations and prepare your team to handle the prospects reactions.

Create a list that has all the similar and common objections and questions that your team has faced from prospects and then accordingly create your responses against each of them.

Now that you have your list of prospects reactions and the solutions, practice them in your training sessions and make them sound real and convincing so that if your salespeople have to reply to a prospects question, it should not sound as if it is being said aloud via a script.

Convincing the prospects that you can give them solution against their doubts will build confidence in them, eventually helping you up your closing rate.

Tip 3 – Approach Your Prospects And Leads Carefully

Promotional emails are the trend in today’s market. These emails are personalized as per the customer’s personality, online search history, spending style and so on. Drafting and shooting customized emails to your prospects makes them feel special and more valued.

So when you email or call your prospects shortly, make sure you follow these two points:

Setting an Appointment:

While sending an email for requesting an appointment with your prospects, make sure that you draft the email by personalizing it and provide a proper call-to-action. For example:

Customize the email like this: ’’Our organization works with companies that have a business process similar to yours, they were facing troubles with their inventory management and this how our service helped them in saving XYZ amount.’’

Explain how your organization’s services were of help to these companies and cite favorable outcomes. Wrap up your email with a subtle call-to-action: “I would like to request a meeting with you to discuss some ideas that might help out you in managing your organizations XYZ issues, I am available this Wednesday at 4:00 pm. Will this be a good time to book an appointment slot with you?”

If one strategy works for one particular prospect, it does not mean it will work for the others. You need to have adequate strategies in place to deal with dynamic prospects in your prospect pool.

Nurturing Your Leads:

We do not need to explain how the emails for seeking appointments and nurturing your leads are different; the name says it all.

Lead nurturing emails intend to provide some insights on your services and products to the leads while making them subtly go through your sales process.

You can share a blog post, your industry report, an informational video, or introducing a new feature in your lead nurturing emails.

Organizations must shoot such emails at regular intervals to their leads as it positions them as an industry expert and also builds trust in their leads.

There are numerous prospects in your sales pipeline, and all of them are at different stages. So the information that is to be shared with these contacts needs to be thought over carefully so that it can help them and push them one step ahead in their path of becoming a regular customer.

If you follow these rules carefully, you can build a favorable sales momentum that will ease your lead to flow into your pipeline and will give you the pool of returning buyers.

Tip 4 – Make Smart Use of Social Media Channels

If you want to reach the masses, you need to create a market presence that cannot go unnoticed.

Train your salespersons to leverage the power of social media as it helps you in staying connected with your leads and customers 24/7, which enables you in sharing the most important details pertaining to your product and services, swiftly across a huge number of prospects too.

Plan on sharing the contents of the type of goods and services your organization provides and how it is helping your customers in handling their business. A sound social media strategy will involve deciding the apt social media channel where you will share your content.

Next stage is the frequency of content that will be communicated on the channels. You will also have to train your team to be a part of the public forum and discussions that take place in various groups.

Leveraging the social media helps in expanding your horizon, and helps you to establish your organization as an expert in your industry.

Use proper Networking

The best way of networking is via social media as mentioned above it helps you in discovering connection beyond your pool of contacts. It is the best lead generation tool, and if used correctly, it can help you develop a great rapport with your potential customers.

Tip 6 – Have a Sound Sales KPI

Always remember that numbers drive sales, but what are the KPIs that must be followed to justify the number of leads generated in a particular month.

Decide the target you have for a given month and start the process of generating the leads. Once you have a lead pool, find out the origin point of these leads.

Keep a count of the number of emails sent and the number of calls made to these leads every month. Derive the outcomes of your calls and emails. Look into the data of the meetings scheduled because of the calls and emails. Is your team attending any networking event? If yes then how many new contacts were made in such meets?

Track the number of proposals sent to the contacts and compare them with the number of the closed deals.

Track everything because all the data and the metrics will guide you and help you in making improvements to your prospecting process.

Conclusion

When we were writing down all these points for your convenience, a simple thought crossed our minds that we cannot assure that all these points will help you for sure. At the top of the article, we mentioned that the sales and marketing scenario has changed a lot, and so has the prospecting process.

So, there is no sure shot path to be followed, but these tips can be upgraded and combined to suit the dynamic nature of the sales industry that has always made forward strive. We hope that these tips will come in handy while planning the prospecting process for your sales and marketing teams.

Using a streamlined sales process will definitely help you prospect in a better manner. Salesmate is a CRM tool for small businesses which is designed to help sales reps in better prospecting and increasing their sales pipeline. Want to know more how Salesmate CRM helps in increasing sales conversion, get in touch with our team for further information on Salesmate, and its features, we will be much obliged to be of help to you.

Recommanded Readings:

Better Sales Pipeline Management with Salesmate

Effective Lead Management Process for Your Business