How to Prospect for Sales Leads and Get Results

How to Prospect for Sales Leads and Get ResultsHow to Prospect for Sales Leads and Get ResultsHow much time do you spend prospecting for leads? Try to estimate roughly how many hours per week you invest in abverkauf prospecting activities. Now eliminate all activities that dont include getting in touch with a lead and trying to get an appointment. Reviewing lead lists, composing scripts and emails, planning events, etc. are all great and useful activities, but they arent prospecting activities- theyre pre-prospecting activities. If you eliminate those hours from your estimate, thats how many hours youve actually spent prospecting. And if youre like most salespeople, that revised number is pretty small. Creating a Pipeline Prospecting for leads is the first step in your sales process. A sales pipeline is shaped more like a funnel than a pipe its widest at the beginning of the sales process when you first start contacting leads and then narrows down as potential customers drop out of the running in every stage of the process. So if you dont keep your prospecting activities on the high side, then by the end of the process youll be awfully short of potential sales. Because youve got to reach out to so many leads just to keep your sales flowing, efficiency and using your time wisely are more important when prospecting than in any other stage of the sales cycle. That means ruthlessly trimming out any activity that isnt getting results. If you spend hours printing up flyers and sticking them on car windshields and never get a single response, then that particular activity is worthless- spend your valuable time pursuing an approach that repays you with results. Quality Prospects Getting good leads is one crucial step to making your prospecting more efficient. If youre cold calling a lead list where 50% of the leads are not qualified for your product, youve just wasted half your time. Find a better source of leads, be it through networking, buying a list from a lead broker, or doing some serious research on your own. Setting the Appointment Once you have your list in front of you, youve got to have something valuable to say to them to move those leads on to the next stage of the sales cycle. At this point, you dont need to sell them on your product- that will come later. For now, you need to sell your prospects on the value of talking with you at greater length. Your goal while prospecting is to sell the appointment and to do that you need the same kind of tools youll use to sell your product- a good offer, some benefits to tempt the prospect, and the skills to present them in a way that will intrigue your prospects. Ways to Generate Prospects Cold calling over the phone, email prospecting, door-to-door visits, and even snail mail are all potential prospecting avenues. You need to spend plenty of time doing one or more of behauptung activities to get results. Usually, the most effective approach is to use multiple sales channels t o reach your leads since individual prospects will respond better to different channels. For example, if youve tried three times to reach a decision maker by phone and shes never there, then firing off an email might be the best way to catch her attention. The other common prospecting mistake is giving up too quickly. Most prospects will require several contacts before theyll agree to an appointment. Again, alternating your contact attempts (a phone call followed by an email or vice versa) keeps the prospect from getting annoyed by your persistence, yet gives you additional opportunities to nail down that appointment.

Anonymous Memo

Anonymous MemoAnonymous MemoI missed this last week, but at the WSJ Law Blog, Jeremy Blachman delivered a fantastic send-up of the mealy-mouthed firmwide memo. A couple snippetsWe assure you none of these initiatives are related to troubles on ur balance sheet. We are simply exploring more flexible work arrangements, including some arrangements where you no longer work here and we no longer pay you. It has nothing to do with any alleged recession, we promise.....Finally, our health insurer, after receiving our most recent check for premiums, has asked us to expand our Family Leave program. If you have a family, please leave.Blachmans (blog-begotten) novel, Anonymous Lawyer, is hilarious, but I think his greatest achievement is the Anonymous Law Firm web site, complete with fake attorney profiles. -posted by brian

4 Productivity Tips for Remote Workers

4 Productivity Tips for Remote Workers4 Productivity Tips for Remote WorkersRemote working jobs are on the rise. Now, many employees can work from home as they please, or even live in a different city than their employers. This ability provides modern workers with the flexibility and work-life balance theyre often craving in our contemporary technology-driven reality.Along with the benefits of remote work comes an array of challenges for both employers and employees. Employers have to figure out how to efficiently manage and treat their remote workers, while remote workers have to figure out how to work effectively and autonomously.Luckily, there are plenty of tools and resources available that make remotejobs easier to navigate than ever before. Consider these four tips when you begin your research on how to become a successful remoteemployee.1. Get Set UpOne key to being the best remote worker you can be is making aya you have sufficient space to work in. mora specifically, you sho uld designate a physical workspace in your house where only work occurs to properly switch your brain into work mode. If you dont have enough free space in your home to have a full office, designate one desk or chair to help with productivity. Consider ergonomics when setting up your workspace choose your chair wisely, prop up your laptop to the appropriate height, and make sure theres room for your feet to lay flat on the ground. Making these physical changes at the start of your day helps your brain transition from personal time to work time, making you a more focused worker.2.Designate HoursWhile remote work often allows you to set your own hours, a lack of structure can be detrimental to your workflow. Rather than flying by the seat of your pants on any given day, dictate what hours you plan to work at the start of the week and stick to them. Utilize a digital calendar toolto let coworkers know what your working hours are, so they can know when its appropriate to ask you questio ns, or when you should be left alone. Schedule your hours around appointments, lunch, and other activities just as you would at an office job, but be sure to pencil those into your calendar as well, for full transparency.3.Take BreaksTry your best to mimic from home the same habits you would as if you were working in a physical office, such as taking a moment to chat with coworkers or grabbing a cup of coffee at your local cafe. Neglecting to step away from your desk can lead to feeling isolated and ultimately burning out. Get creative with your breaks and run out for lunch with a friend or take a walk around the block to get some fresh air. Essentially, anything you can do to give your brain and body a break will be beneficial to your overall experience and productivity while working virtually.4.Use Reliable ToolsBecause of the great distance between coworkers and clients, virtual employees rely on the right tools to productively communicate throughout the day. Having poor call-qua lity on client calls can be detrimental to those relationships, so utilizing a reliable phone system is crucial. Luckily, VoIP phone servicesalleviate this issue by allowing you to make crystal clear calls through your Internetconnection. On top of having reliable phone lines, youll need reliable chat channels and video conferencing tools to communicate with coworkers and managers as well. After all, constant communication is crucial for both team and individual success, and facilitating that from afar can be made much easier with the use of these tools.A Final NoteRemote work is a workplace trend that will undoubtedly continue to grow as the tools and technologies companies use for communication improve. When done the right way, a remote job can provide both workers and their companies with a healthy balance of freedom, flexibility, and production. Using the tips above can serveas a guide for how to make remote work as effective aspossible.Anna is a business content specialist who focuses on the ever-evolving communication landscape- consisting of tools, solutions, and technology- that make remotework possible.