3 Mistakes You Might Be Making With Your B2B Sales Prospecting
The health of a sales team largely depends on how well each salesperson is able to identify and develop relationships with highly qualified leads. Although this is obvious to most salespeople (of course you need new leads to keep selling!), some reps are still making rookie mistakes.
Here are three common mistakes that can dampen your sales prospecting efforts.
1) Not Doing Enough Research
LinkedIn is a great tool for learning about an etailer and its stakeholders, but simply scanning a public profile doesn’t always cut it. Study their website. Make note of their mission and vision, and get an idea of the company’s size, product offering, and the number of employees. Do enough research to the point where you could actually hypothesize pain points for the prospect to demonstrate your ability to add value.
2) Not Involving All The Stakeholders
Most B2B transactions involve at least 4-5 people, and many sales reps fall into the mistake of focusing on just one decision-maker (or worse, an associate who really doesn’t have any pull at all). Don’t get caught up trying to impress just one person. Instead, spread your efforts across the organization and try to connect with several people. Truly, the more the merrier.
3) Focusing On The Short Term
I get it—you have a quota. You need to have a “closing mindset.” Otherwise, you’d never reach your monthly goals. Hear me out for a minute . . .
Many sales reps get too caught up trying to close as quickly as possible and lose sight of how they can provide long-term value to a client. In my experience, if you aim to provide long-term value, you’ll also yield short-term success. If you only aim for short-term success, you’ll miss both.
If you’re looking for long-hanging fruit that will quickly enhance your prospecting efforts, be aware of these simple mistakes.
