How you can take your sales from weak to booming with this simple mindset change

A mindset to conquer the tough world of sales

Does that make sales a pie in the sky? No, not if you develop a prospecting mindset that’s fanatical. Once you adopt it, there’s a lot you can accomplish

With fanatical prospecting, you can (i) Open productive sales conversations, (ii) Fill your pipeline faster and (iii) Leverage your phone, mail, text, cold calls and social selling… all for more sales says Jeb Blount in his book Fanatical Prospecting. What is Fanatical Prospecting?

Enduring mantra – “One more call”

Sales results are never under your control. You can however determine the quantity, quality and direction of your sales efforts. Even when working in a sluggish market, you can make a big impact if you overcome your fears of rejection and simply make more prospecting calls. According to Blount, prospecting like a fanatic demands 3 requisites – 1. Dedication 2. ‘Can Do’ attitude and 3. Thick skin. With these qualities, rejection no longer scares you. You adopt the fanatical prospector’s winning mantra – “One more call’. Does that include phone selling?

To hit your targets with fanatical prospecting, start with your phone buttons

Phone selling is passé. Social is in. Correct? Blount doesn’t agree. Pointing to how phone contact rates have improved since the ‘90s, Blount lists some fascinating factors behind this trend –  |Today’s phones are tied to people and not to desks | With so much happening online, callers stand out | Personal touch of hearing a human voice | Face to face is time consuming | Phone prospecting is more efficient. So, Blount’s suggestion? To hit your targets, start by hitting your phone buttons. What about social media then?

Leverage the social media too

In Blount’s view, social media isn’t the best fit for a sales pitch. It turns off Customers. But social media has helped create unparalleled familiarity. It also offers rich contextual data on prospect behaviour, desires and preferences. So, you could use it to drive some great prospecting. For this you must get into social channels frequented by your prospects. You can then reach out to a wider audience and lay the groundwork for future sales. Clearly, no single medium can guarantee complete success

Develop a blended approach for success

Adopting a mixed prospecting methodology can be the recipe for success. Blount offers tips on making the blended approach work:

Divide prospecting time and efforts between | phone | mail | personal contact | text | social media | networking |cold calling

Check what works best in your industry

Pick the platform appropriate to the Customer type – Ex: Consulting (LinkedIn) Manufacturing (Phone/Mail/Face to face)

To get more pointers for success you can check what are sales stars in your space doing. That will give you valuable clues

The 3 Laws of Prospecting for a full pipeline

Universal Law of Need – Don’t allow yourself to get desperate. Desperation clouds judgment, leads to bad calls, raises failure chances & turns off Customers

Law of the 30-Day Rule – Deals you close in a 90-day window are the fruit of prospecting done 30 days prior to that

Law of replacement – Replace closed leads with fresh ones as per your strike rate. With a 10% closure rate, if you close a lead from a pipeline of 30, you need 10 more fresh leads and not just 1 more!

To become a truly fanatical prospector, slay the 3 ‘P’ Dragons

Procrastination – Don’t miss those small, daily steps that carry you to your ultimate goal

Perfectionism – Don’t be so obsessed about getting it right, you’ll get nothing done. Messy success always beats perfectionism

Paralysis – Don’t let ‘What ifs’ paralyze you into inaction

“Just pick up the phone and make the call. Let the ‘what if’s’ take care of themselves” urges Blount. Get out there and get fanatical on prospecting. You could be just one tiny step away from the sales treasure you are mining for!