In business, it is not only those who offer the highest quality products that succeed, but also those who achieve customer loyalty and attract new customers. That’s what customer prospecting is all about, captivating and growing a customer base, through the sales force.
In this post I want to talk to you about prospecting as a fundamental marketing technique for the growth of a business.
If you are looking to increase your income and have a successful business, you should consider some strategies to get closer to what your customers want.
How to prospect clients?
One way to continually gain customers is through customer prospecting. It’s not about waiting for them to arrive on their own, it’s about searching. Insist until you find who really needs your service or product.
In order to prospect prospects, you must implement some fundamental steps.
Record your objective
Choose your potential audience based on what you offer. Make sure it has a profile that really suits what you are looking for. For this you must dedicate time to these people.
If you don’t worry about knowing them, the hundreds of strategies you apply won’t matter. It will simply be like shooting arrows out of nowhere.
Do research
Make it a goal to research your client. Find out as much as you can about your prospect. Your tastes and needs.
That your client knows that you are interested in him, will make him feel important and well cared for, but above all, that you have an interest in establishing a fruitful relationship with him.
It’s no secret that most sellers don’t like spending so much time talking to their customers enough. But you should know that this is essential.
It is essential to know all the information about them and above all to remember it to be able to use it when you want to achieve the key objective: to make money.
Land your expectations
As a seller you must be patient and above all be clear about the negotiation processes that you will start with your potential clients.
You must adjust your expectations and be clear that a new client does not always get the first time. It is important that you know how to guide the client through everything that comprises the sales process .
Advise him, offer solutions to his problems and establish commitments.
What are the best techniques for prospecting clients?
There are numerous techniques or ideas that could help you in prospecting clients. You don’t have to apply all of them to be successful. I will list some and you will decide which ones to implement with each client.
1. Organize your client portfolio
Remember that it is important to keep a good record of all the information. Their years of experience, in which product did they ever invest or why did they stop doing so.
2. Go to referrals to help you achieve goals
Word of mouth is one of the best ways to attract customers and close business.
Attend events such as forums, congresses, fairs and exhibitions, that will help not only to meet candidates, but also to visualize the business strategies that your competition applies.
Leaning on them will help you obtain valuable information about the tastes and preferences of your potential customers. At the same time it will serve as a promotional platform.
5. Establish through which ways you will dedicate to prospect
The most common are email, personalized visits, by phone or combining all at once. For each there is a tip:
- if you call, don’t be annoying and seek to generate interest during the first seconds;
- If you send emails, be concise and write the message. Avoid copy-paste and attachments;
- If you make personalized visits, try to look good, safe and above all focus on the product.
How should the seller behave on calls?
The most common technique in prospecting clients is through phone calls. It has many advantages, but it has its peaks of difficulty.
One of them is having to make “cold” contact with someone you neither know nor have ever seen. That is why not all those who are dedicated to sales are trained to engage in telemarketing .
The first thing you must understand is that to make cold calls your main tool is the voice, but above all, the way in which you address your potential client. This can condition the success of your possible recruitment.
Some keys to keep in mind in this regard:
- specify in advance the arguments that you will use in each call;
- set a specific time to spend making calls;
- establish the duration times of each telephone contact, you must not exceed two minutes.
What softwares and applications help prospect more clients?
The sales force must be well equipped. It is not enough to have good arguments and be communicative , but to have everything you need on hand to enhance the process.
The use of social networks and networking make a salesman’s life much easier, but there are very useful software and applications.
- Keytone: works as support material for the sales process. You can take devices such as tablets to upload presentations and videos of the products or services you work with.
- Hubspot: This customer relationship management software is ideal for almost automatic data collection and processing. They have a free version and with it you can keep the sales funnel updated, view your schedule, the goals achieved, comparative and analysis, among other filters.
- Sales Navigator: This application will help you segment important companies and people. This is possible since it has search filters that will also alert you to sales opportunities.
As you have seen, to prospect successfully you must make use of technology, make good use of time, document each one of the actions you carry out, investigate and promote good communication.
Finding a potential customer, contacting him, offering him a quality product and convincing him to buy, is the ultimate goal of this business strategy. After all, a seller’s success is not luck, but persistence.
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