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Prospecting should be a constant in your daily plan, even if you can only allow a limited time to devote to it. Prospecting takes many forms today: emails, phone calls, social media engagement, networking. It is essentially anything you do to engage your prospects and customers. As to the best time to prospect, it will vary. MIT conducted a study on B2B sales calls and according to their findings, 4-6 PM was the best times to reach prospects, the worst is 11-12 PM.* This could be different for you however if, for instance, your prospect is in manufacturing and starts at 6 AM, the best time to reach them might be 2-3 PM. Do your own study and try out different days and times to see what works best with your customers. As to prospecting method, you should understand how your customers like to be engaged. This will give you a better chance at reaching them successfully.
Let’s discuss a few prospecting methods here:
Emails
Remember, your prospects are bombarded with emails so do not be surprised if you do not get a response right away or even at all. It also might take several attempts to get a response. Make sure to keep it short, to the point and relevant to their business. A good rule of thumb is to keep it to 3-4 lines. When your intent is to schedule a meeting, name a day and time. Assume the meeting. If after 3-5 days you have not heard from them, pick up the phone and call to follow up on the email. I love the email and follow up with a phone call method as I have seen that succeed more than only email or phone call prospecting.
Phone Calls
Phone calls like emails should be short and to the point. State your reason for calling, ask for the meeting. Calls can be tricky, do not get into selling or being gimmicky. Early in my career, I finally reached a prospect that I had been trying to get in front of for months. I was so shocked he answered the phone that I blurted out “I would like the opportunity to meet with you to save you 10% off of your annual spend.” When it came out of my mouth, I wanted to immediately put those words back in! I was mortified, I had just committed the number one sin in sales, selling on price. His response “No you can’t.” and promptly hung up on me. He was right, how do I know what I can or cannot save him and I was never able to get a meeting with him after that. Remember, you only get one chance to make a good first impression so be prepared, to the point and always assume the meeting.
Networking
Pick events that your prospects are likely to attend. Networking is a funny business and there are many people that hate it. I attend as many events as I can. It is a great way to meet people, even if they are not a prospect, they might know someone that is. These events are not about selling, they are about building connections. One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is gravitating toward people they know, because it is safe. They never leave that group and therefore do not make new and meaningful connections. I don’t know about you but if I wanted to stay within a group, I would call my besties and have wine with them instead. Make sure that you follow up with the people you meet by connecting with them on social media or emailing them. To build meaningful connections you must stay in touch.
Social Media
This is the best form of prospecting but not in the traditional sense. This should be where you post insights, build your brand and provide value to your online following. For example, LinkedIn is one of the best ways to build business connections if you are in the B2B environment. On connecting with prospects, ask for the connection, include a brief message and that’s it. When asking to connect with a prospect, please do not “Connect and Pitch”. As a business owner, I am inundated with connection requests. Most of them are sales people, and 95% of those I accept the request and within two hours I get the pitch. The pitch typically does not include anything showing they know my business, it is always about their product or service. As you might guess, I never respond to their messages and neither will your prospects.
Remember, sales is a marathon not a sprint. Building meaningful business partnerships with your customers is not accomplished in a day. It takes time, effort and authenticity, much like our own personal relationships. Meet your customers where they are showing authentic concern for their business and needs and you will win way more than you lose.
*Source: Salesforce Article:/Prospecting: Timing is (Almost) Everything by Michael Boyette