Prospecting Sales Gold and Where to Find It

There are many articles on the B2B prospecting process and skill to uncover leads for future sales. Skill and process without the mother lode of prospecting will be draining, less than successful, burn you out and hurt your company’s image. What is the “Mother Lode Gold” you must have to be a successful B2B prospector? Your positive prospecting attitude! Yes, the Mother Lode is in your head.

Our partner, AchieveGlobal, conducted a prospecting study and attitude was a biggest factor in prospecting success:

B2B Sales Person Attitudes Towards Prospecting

• The most challenging factor for sales people (43%) is “getting motivated and psyching yourself up to do prospecting! The next closest challenge was ‘finding the time to do it’ at 36%.
• Prospecting was more important to salespeople who sell to higher levels of the organization (VP level or higher) than it is to those who sell to frontline levels of the organization.
• Business to Business (B2B) salespeople are more likely to consider prospecting to be ‘very important’ to their selling activities than those who sell to consumers.

These three findings point out that your attitude is the most critical factor in being successful at prospecting. Let’s explore the what and why of a golden prospecting attitude.

In his book, Little Yellow Book of YES! Attitude, my sales hero, Jeffrey Gitomer defines and determines how your attitude affects your success in life and in our case in B2B prospecting. “Attitude, he says, is the way you dedicate yourself to the way you think.” Let’s tweak his definition in light of positive prospecting.

“Your golden prospecting attitude is how you choose to positively dedicate yourself to the way you think and act about prospecting.”

To prospect or not to prospect is a choice. It’s not what happens to you during your sales day, but the choices you make to gain prospecting momentum, one positive step at a time. It starts in your head. Let’s look at a few key nuggets of prospecting gold I have discovered selling across the globe and cultures.

“I am a Business Person.”

Many sales people approach prospecting with the attitude of a poor child that is just waiting to be punished by parental prospects. Great prospectors know they are not just sales people but positive business people connecting to other business people to solve problems. Remember your potential prospects are business people that are paid to meet with you, a businessperson. This golden attitude can quickly move you to an “I’m OK - You’re OK” relationship when prospecting customers.

“I am an Evangelist for My Solution.”

In the past prospecting meant promoting your product or service on the phone or by snail mail. Ogilvy, the marketing gurus, says we have moved to “Evangelism.” This means simply really believing in what you and your company do can help and solve customer problems. When prospecting you must connect in a way that is inspiring for prospect to engage with you – and share their enthusiasm by giving you an appointment.

I am a “PSS Evangelist.” Professional Selling Skills training many years ago changed my life and the way I communicate and persuade in sales and everyday life. I believe with my head and heart that the whole human race should attend a PSS seminar! What makes evangelistic prospecting so powerful today is that it combines the oldest form of persuasion – verbal communication – and the newest – social networking and Web 2.0.

“I am an Expert of Prospectology.”

In the university, I studied “geomorphology.” This is a branch of geology that researches how landscapes and terrain are formed and how they may indicate what’s below the surface. Just like experienced gold prospectors who use geomorphology to survey the terrain to determine where to mine, effective sales prospectors use their experience, attitudes and knowledge of the economy, markets and industries to practice “Prospectology.”

Sales experts in prospectology see the current sales landscape and how externals shape the future customer trends for their solution. Because of this, they don’t waste time panning for golden appointments in market geologies that yield little returns. Think about how many inexperienced gold miners shoveled or panned thousands of tons of dirt and rock and come up with nothing. Are you a expert prospectologist?

“I have Inner Motivation.”

Effective prospectors not only have a deep solid motivation, but a specific motivation. Studies by TTI Success Insights on motivation show that successful sales people have an above average “Utilitarian” motivation. Utilitarians like to be efficient and not waste time or money, theirs’ or their prospects. They are rarely long winded, they appreciate prospects are busy. So they are better prepared when they prospect, they practice prospectology not to “dig for dirt but hit paydirt.”

I confirmed through TTI Success Insights Motivators why I enjoy my job in sales training. I have a high Utilitarian with a High Social Motivator, meaning I like to be entrepreneurial and help people succeed. When I prospect, my motivators help me be an Evangelist for effective sales training processes.

“I am Disciplined for Persistence.”

Digging and panning through tons of rubble to strike gold takes discipline and persistence. This dual attitude is last because if we don’t have the previous golden attitudes, our discipline and persistence can cause burn out. Let’s assume you have the attitude keys mentioned. Now you need to move your positive prospecting attitude to action, consistent action.Your prospecting discipline means you, like a well disciplined athlete, are consistently training, improving and practicing your sport of prospecting. This involves daily and regular prospecting practice.

With all these positive prospecting attitudes, you can go for gold, prospecting gold! Why settle for less than being the best? Go for gold!

If you found this prospecting article useful, you may also want to download our cutting edge paper “Best Practices for New Business Acquisition”. In it, you will find:

1. The results from a prospecting research
2. A three-phase prospecting process identified from the study findings
3. An assessment to help gauge the effectiveness of your team’s prospecting efforts

I am also contactable by email.

Ressources:

Professional Prospecting SkillsTM helps salespeople become successful at prospecting by approaching it as a process rather than 'cold calling.'
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