The Three Warning Signs of Not Doing Enough Prospecting

In the world of sales, there are a thousand reasons why you might not be making as much money as you should. But if prospects are your customers, they're probably your number one reason for low profits. Plenty of companies know how to sell and come up with great deals (hence the term "sales"), but few know how to do two things: find prospects and make deals happen (aka "prospecting").

What does it take to be successful at prospecting? It takes time — but also knowing what types of people need what you have. Whether you're selling cars or eyeliner, these three warnings signs will tell you when it's time to start looking for new prospects...

1. You're Not Making Calls (or Communicating Any Other Way)

It's not uncommon to run into salespeople who haven't made a single call in weeks, months, or even years. The excuses range from "I'm too busy" to "I'm waiting for leads" to "I don't have time for cold calls." But you know what? If you're in sales, cold calls and communicating with current and former customers should be your most important daily task. There's no excuse for not making calls — no matter how busy you are — because communication is the path to profit.

Salespeople who never communicate are salespeople who never get paid. The problem is that many salespeople don't realize this until it's too late. They get busy and stop communicating. Their only focus becomes closing the sale, but their only threat is developing a reputation for being unresponsive and difficult to contact. Before long, no one wants to talk to them at all — which means no new deals, no referrals, and ultimately no profits.

2. You're Only Selling To Current Clients

If you're selling only to current clients (or former clients), you're probably making a couple of mistakes:

You're Not Prospecting - Chances are that your current customers are your oldest customers. Your contacts probably have their own "idea" of what it means to do business with your company. They're used to working with you, your team, and your processes. If you want new accounts — and more money in your bank account — you need to find new people and make deals happen. You Can't Expand - The same goes for wanting to expand within an existing account. But instead of just looking for new clients, look for new revenue streams within an existing account (and the revenue will inevitably follow). Sales is a numbers game. While the sale may be closing slow or not at all, increasing monthly revenue per client will increase your earnings throughout the year.

3. You Keep Changing Sales Messages

Have you ever tried to sell something to a prospect, only to have them say, "I've already seen that message 100 times. Can't you come up with something new?"

If so, then you know how it feels when prospects tell salespeople that their sales messages are getting old. But don't blame yourself for recycling your own ideas for what to say and do in sales conversations — it's just an unfortunate fact of life in selling. All selling professionals are guilty of thinking they can call prospects with the same pitch and sell the same deal twice without any changes.

But guess what? When you keep repeating a sales message, you're letting your competition set the standard for what gets done in a sales conversation. When prospects say, "I've seen that pitch before," it means that someone else has done what you said and sold it to them. So the next time you do it, the comments will be, "You've already seen that pitch before." The only way around this is to come up with new and different ideas for how to sell. The more unique your sales messages are, the more likely prospects are to remember them.

Buying product, hiring employees, and even building a business are all sales. And each sale has its own unique sequence of questions to ask first, what to say next, and how you can add value for the customer. So the next time you feel like you're repeating yourself or saying something "tried and true," it's time to start thinking about how new prospects can be won... and then make deals happen.

Image courtesy of NC State University - Flickr

This post was originally authored at my old blog, Selling For Fun & Profit , but has been adapted here with permission. I'll be writing more regularly at my brand-new site now: Daily Success Page . It covers all aspects of life and business, from productivity and sales to motivation, happiness, and even procrastination. If you're curious about the site then check out my About Me page , and if you want to learn more click on the "daily posts" link at the top of this page. Thanks for visiting.

P.S If you liked this article you'll also enjoy these related posts:

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Conclusion

How would you like to be one of the 1% of salespeople who gets paid 5x to 10x more?

What is your biggest problem right now in sales? Do you often find yourself feeling frustrated that prospects won't buy from you? Or do you feel like clients don't value your input and expertise? Maybe the clients trust you, but they are only putting small orders through or they won't make referrals to anyone else. What do all these situations have in common? The answer is very simple. You're probably doing something wrong.

Sales has a funny way of making us feel as if we are always doing something wrong.