What is telephone prospecting?
Definition
Telephone prospecting or commercial phoning is the process of identifying and acquiring potential customers, finding them and creating a database of prospects with the aim of communicating with them further and converting them into paying customers. It is a business process that professionals go through to find prospects and turn them into customers. It is an essential stage in a company’s development process and in its quest to expand its market. Upstream, this involves building a database and targeting a certain audience. This then enables a prospecting plan to be put in place. Depending on your expectations and the targeting of your prospects, you can draw up this plan yourself, or delegate it to an expert.
Prospecting is sometimes defined as lead generation. However, whereas lead generation includes both inbound and outbound approaches, prospecting only deals with outbound calls. In the sales funnel, prospecting, along with lead generation, represents the first stage. Prospecting is the active search for potential customers.
Prospecting is the first key stage in the sales funnel. Without good prospects, your sales or conversion techniques are meaningless. Choose a sales prospecting technique and sources of leads that best suit your objective and obtain the most targeted prospects.
How do you go about telephone prospecting?
Commercial prospecting by telephone, also known as phoning, always works, sometimes very well. For many companies – start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations alike –acquiring customers by telephone remains the most important way of generating leads.
Telephone canvassing is highly effective if you use the right methods: here are the classic steps in a cold call:
Steps to successful telephone prospecting: complete guide
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Identify target prospects
Before proceeding with any type of lead generation, analyse your best customers and define your target audience. Create the perfect buyer persona to help you find prospects. Knowing the needs, wants and weaknesses of your target persona will enable you to develop a strategy to find and convert them. To get started, answer the following questions:
Who are your most satisfied customers?
Who likes your product the most (e.g. CMOs, sales people, technology enthusiasts, etc.)?
Which sectors use your software/service?
What is the average income of your best users?
What problems do they have that you help them solve?
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Prospect
Prospecting is the active search for leads. In general, you have three main options for prospecting: purchased lists, lead generation directories and e-mail search engines.
Purchased lists: these are lists of e-mail addresses that you can buy from third parties and use for your marketing. However, these are not only unreliable (because you never know where the e-mail addresses come from and whether they are valid), they are also extremely expensive and may breach your country’s e-mail marketing laws.
Lead directories: a perfect solution for B2B, these directories make it easy to find qualified leads segmented for your niche and sector of activity, with detailed contacts usually provided by the prospect themselves. Some of the best-known directories are Yelp, Yellow Pages and Angie’s List.
Email finder: with 80% of buyers choosing email as a means of communicating with salespeople, a good email finder is basically all you need to organise your prospecting. They’re far more affordable and effective than any other option. And, of course, no one knows better than you what kind of leads you need, and with this tool you can take full control. Take a look at our comparison of the best e-mail search tools on the market.
Also be sure to check out our guide to lead generation to find out more about other lead generation strategies, including content marketing, SEO, PPC and social media.
How do I approach prospects?
Once you’re happy with your prospecting efforts, your next step is to contact them with the intention of converting. To do this, remember a few tips:
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Personalise and segment:
Personalisation is the key element of your communication, and it’s not just about mentioning prospects’ names, but also about addressing their problems and weaknesses. Use our guide on segmentation and personalisation for more practical advice and examples.
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Help first, sell later:
Nobody wants to talk to a sales person who only has eyes for conversion. If you want to convert better and faster, address the prospect’s weaknesses and needs first, then show how your solution can help solve them. This will help you build a solid relationship with the prospect.
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Try a more relaxed approach:
As in real life, casual language makes it easier for the manager to relax and open up. Start with a simple conversation, don’t be pushy and don’t force a sale.
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Automate outreach as much as possible:
To save time and effort, use automation tools such as CRMs, email broadcast campaigns , lead generation and enrichment tools, integrations, etc. This saves you time that you can devote to closing deals and solving other problems.
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Be supportive:
Your dialogue with the prospect should not be interpreted as a sales pitch. Instead, present it as help in solving their problem.
The main objective is to get new customers and keep them loyal. To achieve this objective, prospecting must help you to define customers’ needs, obtain appointments, gather opinions and, lastly, raise your profile with prospects.
Advancia Teleservices: Commercial prospecting