The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

If you're looking to grow your business, prospecting is a crucial part of the process, as it allows companies to identify potential customers and clients and generate new business opportunities. However, many companies make mistakes when prospecting that can hurt their chances of success.

Let's talk about some of the most common mistakes companies make when it comes to prospecting and how to avoid them.

Email continues to be a very effective way to engage with prospects and clients. However, consider these facts (Source).

• In 2022 there were over 330 billion emails sent and received per day.
• That number is expected to be almost 350 billion per day in 2023
• The average person sends and receives 121 business-related emails per day. Remember, that’s an average. That amount can easily be doubled for an executive-level decision-maker.
• Just because an email is sent doesn’t mean it’s opened and read. The average open rate for businesses across all industries is just 18%.

Recently, there have been a lot of salespeople soliciting me.

Maybe, they think I could be a decision-maker for my company.  For the most part, they are mistaken. Most of the approaches are the same — the email reads like it was sent to 1,000 emails, and they hope one sticks. 

However, every once in a while, one really stands out. The ones that stand out are short and to the point of why I would want to reply to them. What’s in it for me catches my attention.

Over 13 million workers hold sales or sales-related positions in the United States. Any experienced sales professional knows that the key to generating leads is sales prospecting.

In sales, it's crucial to focus on potential customers that are likely to buy your product. Not only does prospecting generate more leads, but it also ensures that you're selling to someone interested in what you're selling.

Putting together a good lead generation system can be a daunting task, though. In this sales prospecting guide, we've covered everything you need to know to start finding qualified leads.

Do you ever wonder what it would take to become a Sales Superhero? What would it take to bag every target account on your list?

Bruce Wayne trained for 12 years to cross the globe and learn martial arts and forensics. Doctor Stephen Strange trained for 4 years, but he had the forces of Kamar-Taj in his favor!

The Center for Sales Strategy firmly believes that you have a few innate sales traits (best discovered through our Sales Talent Assessment). And the rest you can build upon training and resources we have within your reach.

Before choosing which prospects to target, it’s best to generate a long list of leads so you can narrow down to the best leads. Using the categories you’ve identified as a good fit your business, decide which sources on this list are right for you to generate your own list of leads.

When it comes to sales, you might feel as if there are many factors that are outside of your control. To an extent this is true, but when it comes down to it – you actually wield more influence over the situation than you think.

Once you realize what you can control, and what you can influence, you will feel more confident approaching prospects and delivering solutions and recommendations to your clients.

What is the best way is to start a conversation? Ask the other person a question. 

We learn by asking questions.

Smart business people never stop asking questions. Your prospect probably forms their opinion about you based more on what you ask them, than on what you tell them.

“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers” - Voltaire

The things you do are often more powerful than the things you say. 

New business prospects are more likely to increase their engagement level when they know a seller truly cares about them and their business. Think about your own buying habits—are you more likely to do business with someone who cares about you compared to a slick talking salesperson who only cares about making a sale?