Are any of you in the sales career? If so, what have been your best methods of prospecting?

9/12/2006 2:48:43 PM

One time I went prospecting for gold close to Sanford, NC. I didn't find anything

(PS: buy your leads....infousa.com)

9/12/2006 3:21:05 PM

what industry

we usually generate leads from attending trade shows and advertising in major publications with in our industry / but this is big time corporate prospecting

other than that, phone work out the ass
i use to work for a firm and as the director of sales / i was expected to make 100 phone calls a day
it sucked

9/12/2006 4:00:20 PM

yeah

what industry

I do a little bit of it in addition to my real estate

9/12/2006 4:01:28 PM

Real Estate

9/12/2006 4:47:50 PM

Cold call, Cold call, Cold call, Cold call,

when you're done with that,

Cold call.


Seriously, if you cannot walk into an office park and spend 4 hours walking into each and every business, getting thrown out by gatekeepers and fighting all morning to get one good prospect, you should not be in sales. That's it, get out, now. (This applies to people who cold call on the phone, too - it's just expected to make 100 phone calls in the time it takes to make 25 walk-in cold calls).

Second mistake most sales people make: They don't follow up with the cold calls they made. Last hour of the day should be spent phoning the people who took your card with the promise to give it to the decision maker and pestering the chain untill you talk to the person who is in charge of buying what you are selling. Find out their current vendor / supplier, when they are buying your product again, why they bought what they did. WRITE IT ALL DOWN, file it, call back at a consistant interval so you can at least get an opportunity to make a proposal to them at the next time of purchase.

Sales is a numbers game. You make enough contacts, qualify your prospects, make quality proposals to those prospects, you will soon have more $ than you ever thought you could make. After you get out in your territory for a while, if you're worth a damn, you will start to get referal business from your earlier sales, and that is when the money starts rolling.

Other things I do in addition to cold calling:

Chamber of commerce. Events are held early, during lunch, or afterhours, great way to network.

Trade shows. Great way to get qualified leads. Once again, you must FOLLOW UP. There will be at least one of your competitors at the show, and most of the sales people there will send out a form e-mail or letter. Guess what the decision maker does; it's in the trash. Get out and call on the lead.

NEVER turn down an opportunity to speak in public. Boy Scouts, Church, Golf Tourneys, any organization you participate in. Don't be a commercial for your product. You can talk about greater issues, such as challenges of small business, but avoid selling your product or you won't be asked again. Your audience will view you as a consultant (aside - your goal should be to be considered an expert consultant about your industry as opposed to a product pusher). Make yourself available after the talk in a corner. Anyone who talks to you afterwards is a good prospect. I have sold EVERY ONE of my public speaking leads, and the referrals from those sells are usually greater in number than my average sell.

There are numerous sources for getting specific leads like new businesses.

There are also pay for lead programs like Sale Genie - these are generally useful to specific sales people like real estate agents or Home improvement services that are looking for targeted mailing lists without having to pay the direct mail guy.

If you want some more detail, feel free to ask.

Remember, as long as you work hard for 40 hours every week, you can sell, most of your competition is lazing around at the coffee shop. Go kick their ass.

9/12/2006 4:58:30 PM

Well I don't have trouble cold calling I was just looking for other successful methods. Real Estate prospecting is a little different, and I use programs like costar, I go down to the courthouse and I just drive around checking out occupancy status...I was just wanting some additional ideas...

Believe me, I bust my ass, and I belong in sales....

9/12/2006 5:02:45 PM

i love sarose threads

9/12/2006 5:16:30 PM

Quote :

"Well I don't have trouble cold calling I was just looking for other successful methods. Real Estate prospecting is a little different, and I use programs like costar, I go down to the courthouse and I just drive around checking out occupancy status...I was just wanting some additional ideas... Believe me, I bust my ass, and I belong in sales.... "

Bobblehead,

If this is true, and I really don't care one way or the other, get out of real estate and into a sales job. I'm not knocking real estate, there's money to be made, but with so much of your $ going to your broker and fees, I don't see how you can get good ROI quickly. Sales is changing. The internet has given purchasers access to so much information and let's face it, agents are a dime a dozen. Home buyers and sellers are some of the most unreliable prospects out there.

Two pieces of free advice:

1. Business to business is where the $ is, and the fun. I get paid to f-in golf. I work 8-5, M-F, and Friday is country club day. If I work at night or on weekends it's laid back on the couch w/ a beer and the laptop. Golf, meals, trips, car, paid for.

2. Business is business, not personal.

Oh - you should check out Sales Genie. It isn't worth anything to me; they don't have any lists I don't already get anyway. However they have really good consumer lists if your selling to the public.

Have fun kids, I'm out.

9/12/2006 6:14:26 PM

You are the type of sale person that I can't stand. Everytime a sale rep walks into our lab I turn and walk away. There is nothing worse than someone calling me, visiting me, emailing me about buying their stuff. 9 times out of 10 I don't buy things from you b/c where I currently get it is cheaper, more convenient, and the sales reps don't bother me unless I need something. Price matters at times, but the conveniency and not being pestered outweighs the price.
I am sure there is money in sales, but damn give me your talk and get the hell out of our lab...

9/12/2006 7:06:31 PM

Well, I don't sell houses, so there is much money to be made here in the commercial industry. If I were in Residential...I might get out of Real Estate and into sales, but honestly...I don't think many sales jobs will make what most of our brokers do...EVER.

9/13/2006 9:11:24 AM