Just making more prospecting calls doesn’t guarantee sales success. These sales tips from B2B Sales Connections will show you what does!

Being Busy Doesn’t Mean Being Effective

Do you find that there are just not enough hours in a day?  Are you working long hours, making call after call, but you still don't sell enough to even come close to reaching quota?  If you answered yes to these questions, you may be one of the many sales representatives who mistakenly believe that being busy is the same as being effective.

Some Sales Statistics

Let’s look at some prospecting statistics as quoted on encharge:

• At least 50% of your prospects are not a good fit for your product.
• On average, it takes 18 calls to connect with a buyer.
• Only 24% of sales emails are actually opened. 
• 80% of sales require five follow-up calls.

To achieve sales success, yes, you need to be persistent. But there is a fine line between persistence and harassment. Not only do you need to know how many sales calls to make. You also need to know how.

A Sales Success Story

It wasn’t that he was new to sales either; he had been selling for over 10 years.  The problem was he didn’t have 10 years sales experience, he had 1 year's bad experience repeated 10 times!  This sales rep knew he had to make prospecting calls to be successful.  The problem was that he really didn't know how!  On every call, instead of qualifying the prospect, he was just dropping off his business card at each door he called on.  When you think about it, a Canada Post letter carrier could have done that for him!

Why are You Making Your Sales Prospecting Call?

The purpose of any prospecting call is to for you and the prospect to agree to move to the next step in the sales process, normally the fact find.  Not only must it be the right solution, it also must be at the right time.

In other words, a prospecting call is considered successful if you can answer the following questions:

1. Is this company actually a prospect?
2. If yes, are they a prospect today?
3. If not today, then when?

Whether you are knocking on a door, telemarketing, or about to send an email to another social network contact, if you do not plan to answer these questions, you are only wasting your and the prospect's time.

4 Steps to Improve Your Cold Calling Results

1. Before you make your next prospecting call, rehearse a headline that generates interest. 
2. Then create 3 to 5 qualifying questions to help you determine if you are working with the right prospect at the right time. 
3. For those that are not prospects today, create a follow up file system to make sure you contact them when they will be.
4. Lastly, script a question that obtains agreement from your prospect to move to the next step in the sales process.

Would the sales rep I told you about agree this works?  I think so, however, we'll have to wait until he gets back from attending another one of his company's monthly quota buster's lunch before we can ask him.

The Bottom Line on Sales Success

You can be successful in sales and not have to work 24 hours a day.  It may be an old cliché, but you just need to learn to work smarter, not harder. In other words, just making more calls doesn’t guarantee sales success!

For more information on creating the right qualifying questions to ensure you are working with the right prospect at the right time, download my eBook, Action Plan For Sales Success.

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, Sales Coach & Author
Schedule a free coaching strategy session with Susan here!.

How do you ask for referrals? What’s the best time of the day to cold call? How do you handle the “I’m happy with my current supplier” objection? Do you have questions on how to sell more.  Then check out Ask the Sales Coach – Practical Answers to the Questions Sales People Ask Most.

Do you want to know how to define sales success on your own terms and then achieve it?  Then download our sales training webinar video!