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You knock on a door, make a cold call, or send out a mail shot. Same old – same old.

There’s nothing wrong with the old tried and tested sales prospecting techniques. You will get a level of return on your investment of time and resources.

The problem is; your competitors are doing the same as you. And there are better ways to generate sales leads.

If you have been in an industry or marketplace for any length of time you can probably predict the results of the usual sales prospecting actions with some accuracy.

Field sales people will know how many doors they have to knock on to generate every 10 sales leads.

Telesales and appointment makers know how many cold calls it takes to get 10 agreements from prospects.

Direct sales know how many referrals will let them do a sales pitch out of every 10 a customer gives them.

And mail shot specialist can predict incoming responses as accurately as 1%.

I’m not telling you to stop doing any of these actions. If they are working for you or your business, keep doing them.

New ways of prospecting for good sales leads

All the lead generation techniques you see here have been used successfully by a small business or large sales organisation.

Everyone is a sales prospector

In many organisations, large or small, the sales people do the prospecting and the selling.

Let’s think about that for a moment.

Sales is one part of any business that can benefit the whole organisation. Increase sales and you increase business. Increase business and jobs are safe, salaries can grow, profits get a boost, and there can be investment into the future of the company.

So what if, I love that phrase, what if everyone in the company became a sales prospector?

What if everyone in the business brought in leads for the sales people to contact?

They may want to do it because they know it will benefit the company, or you may want to give them a reward related to the profit of any of their leads that are converted to paying customers.

Think about it, delivery drivers, office staff, cleaners, everyone looking for local prospects for your sales people to contact.

Joint ventures with other businesses

Most businesses are prospecting for good sales leads. There will be other businesses out there selling a completely different product to the same types of prospect as you are. So what if, there it is again, what if you joined forces and both benefitted?

What if your sales people recommended the other companies products or services, and they recommended yours?

Without damaging your sales you could be introducing your customers to other companies. The arrangement could be reciprocal, or it could be a business arrangement with agreed commission rates.

You could even look at swapping customer data bases, but beware of any local legislation such as the data protection act or Telephone Preference Service that this action could infringe.

Look upwards for a bigger sale

All of us sales people can get stuck on a path that we have always followed. We do what others do and take the same daily actions, and because they are working we don’t always look for new ways to improve results.

Take a look at the people you are selling to, and the sales leads you are generating, and ask yourself some questions:

Could I capture large numbers of sales prospects all in one go?

Is there a way of prospecting for good sales leads in greater numbers?

What connects my current customers together?

He answers to the above questions will be different for every industry and marketplace. You are looking for a connection that links many similar prospects together.

Here are some examples:

Trade organisations, other suppliers, the same landlord, a college or training school, social clubs, providers of a service, or anything else that connects large numbers of prospects together.

What if, you could sell to this link, this connection?

Say you sold sportswear. For years you have selling sportswear to the individuals that play sports. Then a light come on and you ask yourself, ‘What links and connections do my customers have in common?’

Then you think about selling to, or through the sports clubs and schools and colleges that your prospects and customers belong to. You could sell to the sports clubs so they can sell on to their members.

You could work with the clubs and set up a system where they recommend you to their members and in return get a reward based on the sale value.

One simple question on how to look upwards, see what connects your customers, and go for the bigger sales prospects.

Now get some bigger sales prospecting ideas

I can’t give you specific answers on how to go about prospecting for good sales leads. The answers will be unique to you, your business, and your marketplace.

What I can do is give you ideas that will get you thinking so what.

Then you can look at adapting what you see here and in other places. Adding to the prospecting techniques, extending the theories, and asking yourself more questions.

Ask a question

If you have a question, a comment, or want to share your prospecting techniques and ideas, you can send them to the website and we will publish them online and in this newsletter.

You can add a bit about your business, you, or your product, as long as it isn’t just an advert and you have a contribution to make. Include a picture if you like.