PROSPECTS: Constantly looks for more new Customers to sell to

PROSPECTS: Constantly looks for more new Customers to sell to

“Can you quickly open your mails Harsha?” Vikram’s voice was high pitched and words came in a cascade “This is it, yaar. Just the opening I was waiting for . Just look at what I’ve sent you 5 minutes ago”

“Hey Vikky, give me a minute, man. I will see what it is. But tell me, why are you looking out? You’re doing quite fine here” said Harsha

“Harsha, this is urgent. I want to send out my CV today. I’m through with meeting the same Customers again and again and asking them for more of the same business. I ‘m terribly bored. My adrenalin will dry up if I continue my current work for one more year”

“Vikky, my dost, just hang on please. Oh, yes I see your mail. Ok, so it’s an announcement for an open position”

“Yes, read, read, read and tell me what you think”

Harsha opened the attachment and read it slowly:

Comfort Interiors is looking out for an Enterprise Solution Sales Consultant

You will get to combine your feel for the fine art of furnishing with your love of sales and be compensated with an outstanding reward structure matching the best in the industry and a quick growth sales career. As an Enterprise Solution Sales Consultant, you will generate project enquiries and experience the excitement of creating and closing new opportunities among high profile corporate clients, reconfiguring furnishings to meet post Covid compliance standards and supporting them in making their purchase happen.

“Alright Vikky, I see you’re super excited to apply for this role. What’s your zodiac by the way?”

“I’m a Leo Harsha, I love the arc lights on me when I’m among new people, working on the challenge of spotting new prospects and closing them. I’m restless, I quickly get bored with the familiar”

“Looks like you enjoy a hunter profile”

“What does that have to do with my moving to a new job?”

”The situation in our own company today is that Customers who know us and who are buying from us may have reassessed their priorities. To conserve cash they may have decided that now may not be the best time to buy. We would be needing people to start looking for more new Customers. Why don’t you join the newly formed crack Customer Acquisition team? To live your passion for hunting, you needn’t go hunting outside our company. With your strong expertise in Heating Ventilation and Airconditioning and your excellent knowledge of the new Covid compliant systems, you can make a big impact”

“Sounds fun, Harsha, what should be my next step?”

“Leave that to me Vikky. I’ll speak to Sales Head and work that out in 2 days”

Battle hardened sales veterans, understand that sales is often like driving. Most times you drive to known destinations through familiar terrain. At other times you drive to discover new destinations through unknown roads. The job of a salesperson is no different. It is not just about closing enquiries that are already there. Those are known roads. Sales is also about making these enquiries happen. That’s where the adventure of driving on unknown roads comes in. Heinz Goldmann defined the role of a Salesperson as follows: “To make a sale happen when there would have been none without him or her”. Opportunity creation needs to be part of the salesperson’s job. And that takes relentless prospecting or looking for more Customers to buy. Today’s tech driven world takes the heavy lifting out of Prospecting. It’s possible to prospect even without having to make in-person calls to potential buyers.

Sales veterans follow 5 simple rules to score higher win rates in prospecting and create a fuller pipeline:

1. They rigorously research about their prospects and their business before reaching out to them.
2. They arrive at the right blend of prospecting efforts between video conferencing | phone | mail | social media | networking | in person meeting
3. They figure out what works best in their industry and do more of it
4. They pick the platform appropriate to the Customer type – Ex: Consulting (Social media) Manufacturing (Video conferencing/Phone/Mail/Face to face)
5. They model on best practitioners from their industry to get pointers for success

Prospecting is a valuable behaviour to cultivate for building sales resilience. Prospect enough and you could be just one tiny step away from the sales treasure you are mining for!