Prospecting is a game that too many salespeople have already lost because they’re mentally unprepared.

A Mental Game

I want you to be successful at prospecting, and I’m going to tell you 10 things to get your head in the game.

1. Prep the day before.

You can’t go into anything mentally prepared if you have no idea what you’re getting into.

Who are the contacts I’m going to be calling?
What are my expectations?

If you wait till that morning, you’re going to waste so much valuable time just getting ready.

2. Set the expectations.

It’s not your job to boil the ocean. Prospecting is one step at a time, and you have to be mentally prepared for the long haul.

You’re not going to make a couple of phone calls and suddenly business is just falling into your lap. It’s going to take time. Set some expectations to prepare your mindset.

3. Immerse yourself.

If you want to become good at anything, you have to do it. You’ve got to set yourself up for really learning and studying the craft.

If you want to become good at it, you’ve got to watch, learn and listen from those who are good. Investing in yourself is more than just dollars, it’s also taking the time to read and listen and apply knowledge.

4. Set daily and hourly goals.

If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there?

I love setting daily and hourly goals such as, “During this hour, I’m going to achieve x.” Set yourself daily goals that you can accomplish.

Here’s what I’ve found, success creates success. Achieving these smaller goals propels you forward.

5. Expect success.

If you go in to prospecting thinking, “Nothing’s going to happen here,” nothing will happen, I guarantee it. But if you go in with an expectation of success, it is amazing how much better you’ll listen.

That’s right, you’ll listen better, hear more things, find opportunities.

If I put two people in a room: one with a great attitude expecting success and one a Negative Nelly, and I give them the same list, guess what? The Negative Nelly will come out of it with zero, and the person who has that success mindset is going to come out of it ahead.

6. Know your contact.

The days of just randomly grabbing a phone book and calling people are gone.

Okay, now there are some sales development representatives out there who still are just given lists. I get that, but that’s becoming a smaller and smaller field all the time.

You may not know your contact personally, but do know the industry they’re in. Sure, you may not have had time to do a deep dive into their website, their company, and their personal profiles every time. But any amount of background knowledge gives you a greater level of confidence.

Remember, confidence makes you listen better.

7. Know your outcome.

If you don’t know the outcomes your customers achieve, you’re too focused on the product.

Don’t sell the product. Sell the outcome.

When you sell the outcome, the customer is going to understand the value you offer much better and much faster.

8. Play the long game.

Prospecting is not something you do one hour a month. “Well, I tried it for a couple of days, it didn’t work, so I guess I can’t prospect.” Nope.

Mentally prepare yourself that it is going to take time to fill your pipeline.

9. Remove the negativity.

If you have negative people that you hang out with, you can’t afford it. There may be news sites, things that you listen to, watch or read that are negative. Get them out because it’s amazing how it eats away at your mindset.

Prospecting is already tough enough. But when you have the right mental outlook, it’s amazing how much easier it is.

10. You need a support person.

You need a champion, an accountability partner, somebody who can come alongside you.

An Activity Game

Prospecting doesn’t just occur on its own. You have to do the work.

Prospecting is a lot like a gym membership. You can’t get a membership to the gym and expect to be in shape. You’ve got to go and work the machines, put in the reps, spend the time. Let’s look at 10 ways prospecting is all about your activities.

1. Prep before you start.

If you set up a prospecting window of time and you’re not prepared, guess what? You’re going to spend that entire time getting ready to prospect, and you’ll never prospect. Thinking about prospecting is not prospecting.

2. Have a plan and follow it.

This drives me crazy. The biggest reason why salespeople fail is that they don’t follow their plan.

Any plan is going to work. And that means just a daily routine of phone calls I’m going to make, emails I’m sending out, and you just keep repeating.

3. Block your time.

You’ve got to have time blocked on your calendar. If you don’t have time blocked on your calendar to prospect, it’s not going to happen. Inevitably, you’re going to get caught up in everything else.

4. Love your CRM.

Don’t run from your CRM. Don’t rebel and say, “I’m going to keep all my notes over here.” Instead, love your CRM and use it, because I’ll tell you what, it’s there working for you.

5. Love your tech stack.

This includes whatever tools you have. Now, don’t run out and buy a bunch of tools. If you’re with a company and they’ve given you a tech stack, use it, embrace it. Don’t fight it; use the tool to your advantage.

6. Don’t deviate.

“I think rather than sticking with my list, I’m going to go over here and I’m going to ….” Nope. Stay right there.

I’m not a NASCAR fan, but can you imagine if a NASCAR driver said, “You know what? I’m going to win this race by not going around in circles. I’m going to go out in the parking lot and race around the parking lot, and I think I’m going to win.” It’s not going to happen. You have to stay with the plan.

7. Measure the activity.

How many calls did I make? How many emails did I send out? Can I measure how many questions I’m asking? What about how many callbacks have I gotten? What’s my level of engagement? You’ve got to measure the activity because otherwise, how do you know? And how can you improve?

8. Own it.

No excuses. You have to go through the steps regardless. Yes, things come up and things don’t happen, but I can’t play the blame game.

I have to own it. It’s my duty to prospect, and not the client’s fault, or marketing’s fault, etc.

9. Follow-up wins.

Prospecting is not making one random call. “Well, they didn’t call me back. They must not be interested.” Follow up, follow up, follow up! That’s how you win the sale.

It’s staying engaged to keep things going.

10. Never stop.

Don’t think for a moment that you can stop prospecting. The reason salespeople have peaks and valleys is that they don’t prospect consistently. Or, they get on a mountaintop because they’ve been prospecting, and then they stop. This happens to every salesperson out there.

An Outcome Game

Prospecting is not about selling. It’s an outcome game.

A big reason salespeople struggle with prospecting is that they’re too busy selling the product. People don’t want to buy products. They want to buy solutions — they’re looking for outcomes.

1. Know your outcomes — all of them.

Be very active in looking at your current customer list — what are the outcomes they achieve?

How did your product or service benefit them? Write all of those outcomes down because that’s what you’re selling. You’re not selling your product. This is going to change your mindset. Remember, if you have the ability to help someone, it’s your obligation to reach out to them.

2. Build an FAQ for each outcome.

This is your playbook. Because for each outcome, I want to have a frequently asked question.

What are the types of questions that I need to ask for them to reveal that’s the outcome they’re looking for?

In contrast, what types of questions will my customer have once we’ve identified their desired outcome?

The FAQ also includes information you want to share. For example, “Hey, here’s how other customers I’ve sold to have been able to make this work.”

3. Build questions to go deep.

But Mark, I’m in the prospecting phase. Actually, the faster I go deep with my questions, the more engaged the customer’s going to be, and the better the outcome is that I’m going to find.

I can’t take surface answers. I’ve got to go deep. When somebody says something, even on a prospecting call, I want to ask them a follow-up question on it. More information from the customer gets us both closer to their desired outcome.

4. The outcome is customer-controlled.

It’s not for you to determine what the customer’s outcome is. The customer will tell you.

Don’t assume anything. This can be where prospecting goes awry, because we think we know what the outcome is, so then we start steering the conversation down a mistaken path.

You have to allow the customer to say what the outcome is and then you build on it. This is why you have the FAQ. This is why you ask questions that go deep. However, you want to make sure that they fully understand it first.

5. Stay ICP-focused.

If they throw out an outcome, but it’s an outcome and a customer in an industry you’ve never dealt with, you’re not going to know how to run with it.

For that reason, you need to stay very ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)-focused. When I stay in my lane with my ICP, it allows my outcomes to line up better, and it’s going to allow me to be a more sophisticated, intelligent salesperson to help guide the customer through it. Being ICP-focused helps me become a subject matter expert.

6. Outcomes vary by position.

The frontline person who is actually going to use the piece of equipment is going to have a different outcome than, say, the production manager or the CFO. Understand that outcomes are going to vary by the position, and be prepared for those variances.

Go back to knowing your outcomes, all of them, and building that FAQ. This is so key, because when I hear different things, I need to know how to respond. Of course, people in different positions are going to see things differently.

7. Know the ROI.

Remember, nobody buys anything just for the sake of buying something. Every purchase they make is an investment and they’re looking for a return.

In other words, if this outcome is going to help you reduce labor or help you achieve this goal, how do I begin to think about that from an ROI standpoint?

Knowing the ROI helps me gain more confidence in what I’m selling, and helps me to position my solution to fit your needs.

8. Tie to the calendar.

People have a lot of outcomes they’re looking for, but unless they’re urgent, they’re just not going to run with it.

The more I can create (real, not fake) urgency, the better off I am. Customers today are only dealing with their number one or number two priorities. Even in my own company, we have a lot of things we want to work on, but we’re focused on our top one or two priorities.

9. Link to customer priorities.

This is why I’ve got to do enough investigating, asking questions, because I’ve got to understand: where does this fall in their list of priorities?

I have this happen all the time where customers aren’t ready to pull the trigger. They aren’t ready to buy because the priority is further down on their list.

10. Sell the outcome.

The product or service that you’re selling is just a medium to help the customer achieve the outcome. Stay 100 percent focused on the outcome.

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].