Prospecting is an art! An art that many people, especially those who've been in sales for a long time, consider lost.
I can already hear my boss saying: "It hasn't been that long, I'm not that old.''
But all joking aside, prospecting was completely different 20 years ago.
Salespeople were on the road, going door-to-door, and maintaining their pipeline with business cards. Forget a CRM, their contacts were converted into an Excel spreadsheet. They made their pitch, proposal and contract signature in person. They developed their customer relationships.
It really was another time.
Today, it's different. For better and for worse! We're hyper-productive, to an extent that our past generation of sales people couldn't even imagine. Eight consecutive meetings in one working day? Impossible 20 years ago. Signing three contracts in a single day? Whew, that was a big day's work!
We're now able to do a lot more in a lot less time - an employer's dream. We have software that manages all relationships and interactions with current and potential customers. We use videoconferencing platforms that allow us to hold face-to-face meetings from anywhere. We can even sign documents electronically! With all this help, it's now much easier to do the job of sales representative.
Today's expectations
In many companies, the sales role includes the tasks of "hunting" and "farming". Hunting refers to the active prospection of new customers. This involves proactive steps to identify, contact and convert prospects who are not yet customers of the company. This approach contrasts with the management of existing accounts, often referred to as "farming", where the aim is to maintain and develop relationships with existing customers.
That said, both types of task are time-consuming when done properly. And with this extra workload, some tasks take priority over others.
So how do you know what to prioritize?
If your sales reps are concentrating on their customer relationships, taking care of renewals, customer service and managing their current assets, they are necessarily neglecting the development portion of their job. If no action is taken on the development side, no new business will be created in the coming months. Conversely, if they concentrate on development, but neglect their existing customers, their customer service will suffer, which will certainly have an impact on the next renewal.
It really is a chicken-or-the-egg dilemma.
Your options
Shameless plug here, XMA Solutions has a telesales prospecting service to support your sales teams in their "hunting" tasks.
What's time-consuming about prospecting isn't the call itself, it's the preparation, research and follow-ups that are tedious. Finding the right companies to contact, entering them into your CRM, finding the right contacts to reach out to, following up on calls in the hope of getting the chance to speak to the person making the decision, THAT'S the hard part.
Besides, your team members will be grateful, because this delegation of tasks is directly linked to employees' new motivations at work. To find out more about the evolution of employee motivation, read our latest blog post here.
To conclude
Prospecting has certainly evolved, but it remains a crucial part of the sales process. While technology enables us to be more efficient, it doesn't replace the need for human contact and attentive customer relationship management.
By delegating certain tedious tasks to prospecting experts like XMA Solutions, companies can concentrate on what they do best: creating value for their customers.
Are you re-evaluating your sales strategies? Did this article resonate with you? Would you like to discuss solutions for restructuring your sales department?
At XMA Solutions, we work closely with our customers to attract, motivate and retain their sales teams. Our services include recruitment, prospecting, training and coaching, to reinforce their commercial success.
Contact us to find out more!
