In our last article, we talked about Sales Prospecting, discussing why it is crucial to business growth and why people don’t always do it on a regular basis.  

Here are the top reasons we hear for why businesses don’t bother sales prospecting: 

  1. They don’t enjoy it so they avoid doing it.
  2. They are too busy with the work they already have. 
  3. It hasn’t been productive in the past, so they think of it as a waste of time. 

In future posts, we will address the other reasons but in this article, we will address the first point – people don’t enjoy sales prospecting so they avoid doing it.  

Kind of like having to eat your vegetables in order to stay healthy, sales prospecting is a task that MUST be done in order to keep your business healthy and growing. And to make it worse, it has to CONTINUE to be done, on a regular basis, to be effective and to keep your sales funnel full. But it needn’t be something to dread! 

Let’s look at some of the common reasons that people don’t enjoy this task and give you some suggestions to make it all easier. 

It’s not FUN 

Well, MAKE it fun. At One of a Kind Sales, we are big fans of fun! See if you can inject some humor, or at least some levity, into your calling process and see if that makes it any less painful.  

I don’t know what I am doing 

We will talk about this a bit more in the last article in this series but our TRAINING can help you feel better prepared and more effective.  

It doesn’t work 

TRAINING will help here as well. Not everyone is a born salesperson but we can give you the skills and tools YOU need to make you the best salesperson you can be. 

It is never ending 

Yes, it is true that you need to keep doing this task, on a regular basis but if you feel like you are ALWAYS making calls, I suggest blocking out a specific time to do this task. Try 2 hours each morning if you are a morning person, or the 2 hours after you’ve had your afternoon coffee if that is when you feel most energized. People tend to have low energy when they are doing tasks they dread and the call recipient can definitely hear and/or sense that. Low energy does NOT set appointments or close sales. Pick a time when you feel energized, make a set number of calls or make calls for a specific amount of time, then stop! Move on to your next task and don’t spend any more time than necessary thinking about it. Yes, it needs to be done regularly, but it does not need to consume your entire day.  

Add value 

If you dread calling because you think people dread hearing from you, change that! Bring VALUE to the call. Have industry insights and stats to share with the people you call. Even if you don’t set an appointment, if the person you called thinks you shared something of value to them, they WILL take another call from you and maybe that one WILL lead to an appointment and/or sale. 

Change it up 

New techniques, a different time of day – stick to your script but changing your approach can energize you and in turn, the person you are calling.   

Rack up some wins 

Once you are well trained and energized, you will probably find you have a few more wins. And THOSE, in turn are energizing, making it more rewarding and hopefully something you can actually look forward to!     

Rinse and repeat 

Once you have some wins, take the time to think about what worked and what didn’t. This isn’t rocket science – drop the talk that seems to turn people off and elaborate on the passages that seem to engage and convert. 

Keep learning 

Click here to learn more about our TRAINING programs and follow us on LinkedIn for industry insights, tips and advice to keep you sharp, productive and successful!