How to Prospect for New Clients

Sales leaders, your “sales math” could be causing you to lose sales by design. Ask anyone in sales about the most challenging part of their job, and the overwhelming answer will be prospecting. Just finding enough opportunities with enough value to fill your pipeline and achieve your sales goals. We all know how exhausting this is. Hence, the birth of sales math, a method for determining the activity levels required to achieve that goal. It’s simple: Total addressable market, divided by the number of representatives you have, factored down to days, weeks, and months, and like magic, you know what it takes to touch every one of them in a year’s time. It comes with a lot of great sayings, too: ❌ Sales is a numbers game. ✅ Sales is a performance game where closing deals is what matters. ❌ Every no gets you one step closer to a yes. ✅ Sure, and if I buy 2 lottery tickets instead of 1, I double my odds of winning. And here's the Grand Daddy of them all, and why the math is a problem. ❌ Everyone is a potential customer. ✅ Not every prospect has an equal chance of becoming a customer. Since we know that not every prospect has an equal chance of becoming a customer, why do we spend equal time trying to connect with them all? If you want to find the needles in a haystack, you use a powerful magnet to pull them out because sorting hay is a waste of time. So, create a prospecting magnet to attract the most likely prospects and focus your time on them. Go back through all of your recently won deals (3 to 6 months) and get all the answers to this question: "What prompted you to look for a solution like ours?" When doing this, pay very close attention to the words they use to describe the problem they were having. Now rewrite all your prospecting emails to include the vocabulary used by your recent wins, and discuss the problems they faced. All cold calls should be transformed into conversations about these problems, utilizing descriptive language to address them effectively. This outreach will resonate with those most likely to want your service now and generate the highest response rates. Because it resonates with their problems and discusses them in a language they can relate to. #sales

My prospecting motto that’s changed everything for me. "Do a little every day, so you never have to do a lot." Targeting new accounts is to be built into your daily operating rhythm. It’s just as important as prepping for calls, working active deals, running demos, etc. So I developed my 2×4 Method: 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: Target just 2 new accounts each day. Pull first from those top accounts that have shown intent via signals. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: At each account, target around 4 individuals of different personas. For Gong: CRO, Rev Ops Leader, Enablement Leader, AE 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: Do this each day (5) of the week. You will have 40 individuals being hit by the end of week. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: Hit each account fast & hard all at once. Create conversation internally among those being targeted with compelling messaging so personalized that you're impossible to ignore. Over one month (22 business days), you should have hit 44 accounts using this method. By the end of Q1, you should have hit 100% of your Marquee and Tier 1 accounts. If you're an SDR, you will need to target more than 2 accounts per day. You'll find your correct number over time but it's likely closer to 6-10 accounts per day. Make a little progress every day. The goal is consistency. P.S. I created this account planning sheet (free), so you can keep organized on it all: https://lnkd.in/guCMPNxy

10 prospecting tips that helped us generate over $200M+ in new revenue: 1. Identify the Pain Early Research your prospects’ biggest challenges and tailor your outreach around solving a hypothesized specific problem they are dealing with. 2. Use a Strong Hook Start your email or call with a compelling insight that immediately grabs attention and highlights their problem. 3. Leverage Social Proof Mention similar companies or industry leaders you’ve helped to build credibility and urgency. 4. Personalize at Scale Use automation to customize key details, ensuring each message feels personal and relevant. 5. Ask Engaging Questions Instead of pitching, ask a direct question about their challenges to spark conversation and uncover needs. 6. Follow Up and Follow Through Most meetings are booked after 5+ touchpoints, so stay persistent with emails, calls, and LinkedIn messages. 7. Use Multiple Channels Combine email, phone, LinkedIn, textm, and video messages to increase response rates and engagement. 8. Deposits over Withdraws. Value Value Value. Offer strategies, ideas, recommendations, insights, reports, or industry trends in your outbound messages to establish credibility before asking for a meeting. 9. Create Urgency Highlight the cost of inaction or a timely reason why they should engage now rather than later. 10. Refine, Test, and Optimize Continuously analyze response rates, tweak messaging, and A/B test subject lines and calls-to-action for better results. Use these tips to max out your outbound sales. What else is missing from the list?