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Prospecting grows business

Question: Last year my sales team was No. 1 in our region. It is needless to say that we are expected to build on our success. To do this, I believe that we need to drastically expand our client base, which means my team needs to put more emphasis on prospecting for new clients. It has been my experience in sales that prospecting is usually very challenging. What can I do to energize my team to meet the challenge of prospecting for new clients?

Answer: You’re correct. Prospecting is one of the major challenges that sales people face. Most sales people do not enjoy prospecting, but sometimes prospecting is one of the only ways to grow your business. Here are a few techniques to encourage and energize your sales team to prospect for new clients.

1. Inventory: Ask your sales team to take an honest inventory of their image, their strengths and opportunities for improvement. Have them ask for frank input from others, to be receptive to feedback, and willing to make changes.

2. Make it a hobby and a game: Keep your sales team fresh. Encourage them to constantly vary their prospecting and networking activities. Learn and teach new prospecting techniques.

3. Visualize success: Have your sales team picture their prospects just waiting for your company to contact them. Encourage your sales team to maintain an appreciation and recognition file so they can be reminded of past successes. Read inspirational stories about successful prospecting.

4. Be efficient: Encourage your sales team to maximize efficiency. Ask your team to plan each day by filling small gaps of time with prospecting activities. It’s amazing how 15 minutes here and 10 minutes there can add up.

5. Stay on a roll: Encourage employees that find themselves on a roll to stay on a roll. Let them know that it is important to capitalize on spurts of energy, motivation and creativity.

6. Don’t quit: Have your team put a new slant on rejection and profit from their mistakes. Encourage them to keep a journal; after each experience, ask them to write down what they have learned from it and what can be done differently the next time.

(Michael Crom writes the Success Coach column. He is executive vice president of Dale Carnegie Training. For advice on work issues, e-mail carnegiecoach@dalecarnegie.com.)