The Three 'Ps' of Prospecting
Our teams wanted to share three key principles of successful prospecting that we have observed working with high-ticket B2B clients (and for ourselves):
Positivity
Actively reaching out to prospects via phone and email hundreds of times a week with little (or no) response and a high-level of rejection is demoralizing. Rarely will sharing our value proposition convert prospects from unaware to urgently needing our solution. Sustaining the level of enthusiasm necessary to produce results from prospecting requires grit.
Persistence
Outbound opportunities ≠ inbound opportunities. The value from outbound stems from consistent top-of-funnel: continually adding on-target prospects to the pipeline, reaching out, and following up continuously. Very few are likely to buy in the near future—possibly only 1-3% of your total addressable market.
Patience
Many of us have unrealistic payback periods/time horizons when calculating ROI for prospecting. And many of us are concerned that if we don't see ROI within one quarter of launching a new effort then we never will. Building a new channel requires a significant investment of time, people, and money. It may take a year or more to get build your team, and establish effective systems, and processes. But earning control of your pipeline absolutely pays off in the long run.
All in all, B2B revenue leaders agree that prospecting remains the best approach for achieving a consistent and predictable flow of new business opportunities. And establishing a culture of Positivity, Persistence, and Patience in your sales organization will help pave the way.