Effective sales prospecting isn’t rocket science. Prospecting is stressful and difficult. You need to be strategic in your approach. Here are 5 things you need to focus on to be successful: know the “why”, understand the customer, add it to your calendar, use the right tools, & take an omnichannel approach.


An SDR’s job is no easy task. Most SDRs are new to the corporate world and still growing a lot as individuals. There can be a lot of anxiety associated with prospecting, so it’s no wonder that the turnover rate is so high with sales reps.

While prospecting is stressful, you can alleviate some of that stress through planning and gaining experience. The five steps outlined below will benefit your company and assist your new salespeople in their career growth.

Define the “Why”

Why do you wake up each workday and continue your career in sales? Why is it important for you to be prospecting?

There is great power in understanding your “why.” It gives you a goal to plan towards and motivates you for the long term, not just for checking your daily tasks (like prospecting) off your to-do list.

Steve Burton from The Point Co says that many salespeople don’t know their “why.” Helping your salespeople to define their career goals can solidify or strengthen their will to succeed. With a clear view of the big picture, motivations become more personal, and SDRs can work backward from their personal or professional goal to put their all into tasks like prospecting. The phone feels a little lighter when it comes time to prospect if every outreach is passion and purpose driven.

Listen to the full episode now: Do You Understand Why You Are Prospecting?

Understand the Customer

Before your sales reps pick up the phone, they should have gone through onboarding to get a clear understanding of your customers, their pain points, and how your product serves them.

Create a culture at your company that encourages questions. A mentor program with senior sales reps would be extremely beneficial to a new salesperson, and it can decrease the number of interruptions to your day as a sales leader.

Add Prospecting to the Calendar

Avoid procrastination by scheduling time for prospecting into your day. Encourage your salespeople to do the same.

By tracking your prospecting efforts, you’ve also made it easier to conduct an analysis. Have all your reps record their efforts, so you can measure activity and identify ways to improve.

Use the Right Tools

New tools enter the market every year. From 2017 to 2018, there was a 15 percent jump in available sales technology. That makes over 830 vendors as of May 2018.

Are the tools in your sales stack the best ones for your company? Do the research and watch demonstrations to see what works for others and how the available tools can advance your team’s prospecting duties. No matter who you are on the team — the manager or the newest SDR — choose the best sales tools to help you do your job most effectively.

Keep in mind, that it can be easy to over-automate your sales process. Steve Burton says, “Automate to save you time, and use a human touch with everything else.” Don’t overload your sales process with too many tools.

Take an Omnichannel Approach

When it’s time to prospect, don’t avoid cold calling or social media. Instead, take an omnichannel approach and reach out to targets using a variety of communication methods. A strong proponent for cold calling myself, I would never recommend sticking only to that one method.

Don’t allow yourself nor your sales team to rely on one tactic. Whether it’s a fear of the phone or a fear of new methods like social selling, don’t let fear or discomfort with change stop you from connecting with people in new ways. Your favorite way to reach out may not be your prospects preferred method to be reached.

Get Ready to Prospect

Share Steve’s tips with your SDRs to help them become better prospectors, but also encourage them to take responsibility for their future in sales. Advise them to conduct their own research and pursue other educational resources to improve their prospecting and sales skills. There’s an abundance of information right at their fingertips, unlike when I was first starting out and mostly consulted books. Remember Zig Ziglar?

Prospecting isn’t rocket science, but having a plan – just like any good scientist – will set your team up for success.

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