It's no secret that selling in the modern-day is more complex than a couple of years ago. Research shows that it takes an average of 8 cold call attempts to get through to a prospect.

The reason why it's become more challenging to sell stems from the fact that buyers hold more purchasing power.

In the past, all one needed was a team of talented sales representatives. But the selling landscape has evolved significantly since. Presently, the power of closing deals has to do more with buyers than it has to do with a rep's ability.

This means you should constantly learn new ways to acquire new clients and meet their needs for sales professionals. To help you out, we've scoured the web and identified seven sales prospecting techniques that will win you more customers.

Create the Perfect Prospect Profile

The first thing you'll want to do is come up with a profile of your ideal customer.

Don't assume that they're fit for your brand just because a client is in your database or email list.

If anything, research shows that up to 50% of your prospects aren't typically a good fit for your products/services.

So when you have a portion of customers who aren't buying from you, it's not necessarily because they're not interested. Instead, it's because they wouldn't benefit from purchasing your products.

The perks you stand to gain from creating a prospect profile include:

• Getting to connect with the right/target customers
• Discovering the most effective way to communicate with your niche target
• Gaining recognition as an expert in your industry
• Learning to focus your marketing efforts where it matters

How to create a prospect profile

Now that you know the benefits, let's look at how you should go about creating a prospect profile:

Identify and name your ideal prospects.

Often, you'll come across sales professionals who say that they can work with just about anyone. While this is true, it's not the best approach to use.

Instead, you ought to examine your clients' history and figure out the following:

• Which clients were the most responsive to your marketing campaign?
• Which clients did you enjoy working with?
• Are there any common traits among these customers?

Answering these questions will create a picture of who your ideal customer should be.

Narrow down on relevant demographics

Once you've created the bigger picture of an ideal prospect, it's time to narrow down on relevant demographics. This step makes it easy to customize solutions for your candidates. Some of the factors you should consider are:

Personal

• Gender
• Age
• Income level
• Marital status
• Family size
• Location

Professional

• Industry
• Firm
• Job position
• Firm’s revenue
• Education background
• Experience

Identify their professional attributes.

Another thing you'll want to do is establish your prospect's professional attributes.

These factors will help you determine the process these prospects undertake to arrive at their purchasing decisions.

Here are examples of such attributes:

• Goals and priorities
• Issues they're likely to encounter in their line of work
• Possible actions they might have taken to solve problems previously
• Structure of their team and the parties involved when making purchasing decisions

Warm Call

The era of cold calling is experiencing a slow but imminent death.

Given how often consumers are bombarded with sales pitches, it is no wonder they've become wary about answering calls from unknown numbers. Due to this, marketers have resorted to a different strategy: warm calling.

So what exactly is the difference between the two? Cold calling entails calling potential customers with whom you've had zero previous interaction.

You select a name, dial a number and expect to be patched through to the recipient. The end goal? To convince the buyer to take action so that you can close the deal and move on to the next client.

Contrary, warm calling is a more friendly approach, so it works so well. With this technique, your aim of calling is to follow up on an individual who's already expressed interest in your product, service, or firm.

Perhaps, they filled out a form on your website, downloaded a program, or contacted you via social media.

Whatever means they used, the important thing is that they showed interest in your services. Thus, your aim of calling is to offer valuable information, making it easy for the customer to take further action.

Here are a few tips for effectual warm calling:

Research your client

Whether your potential client is a customer or a company, you'll want to learn as much as you can before contacting them.

Polish your opening line

When you make that first call, you'll have a short time to capture your prospect's attention.

So you must prepare well. You'll want to start by identifying yourself. Then, explain your first interaction with the individual.

You could say, "Hi Kelly, this is Mark from XYZ Company. We met at the Trades Conference that was held over the weekend"

Listen

The secret to making a compelling warm call is to listen actively. Invite your prospect to discuss their most significant pain points, then offer a solution(s).

Focus on getting referrals

Asking for referrals is one of the most overlooked yet very effective sales prospecting techniques.

Statistics show that referrals are the bread and butter for 47% of the top-performing sales professionals.

To add to this, 92% of consumers worldwide trust referrals from family and friends more than any other form of advertising, and rightly so.

Put yourself in the shoes of an average consumer. If you wanted to buy a home, you'd start by asking for property agent referrals from close friends and family.

Similarly, if a sales representative calls you and mentions that they were referred to you by a mutual friend, you'd want to listen to them. It's human nature to place more trust in information sourced from individuals you know.

How to ask for referrals

While asking for referrals is imperative, you should go about it the right way. You don't want to come across as being overbearing or desperate. But you also don't want to miss out on a great opportunity.

Offer value first, then ask.

While some sales representatives ask for referrals immediately after closing deals, we don't recommend doing so.

It would be best if you waited at least a few days or until your customers were content with the products/services you rendered. If they enjoyed their experience, they'll be more willing to share names of people who'd benefit from your brand.

Be specific

If you offer a wide range of services, then you'll want to ensure that you're being specific when asking for a referral.

Let's say you run a photography business. A few weeks ago, you were hired by a client to take a professional picture for their LinkedIn profile.

When you're requesting them to recommend your services, don't just say, "Do you have any friends looking for a photographer?" Instead, you'd ask, "Do you know anyone else who needs an update on their LinkedIn picture? If you do, I'd love to get a referral!"

Express gratitude

Don't forget to express gratitude to your referrer. The referrals that you'll get are irreplaceable- guaranteed leads for your business that cost you very little. So the least you can do is send them a "thank you" note or even a gift card.

Send Personalized Emails

Did you know that 63% of prospects prefer being contacted through email? This figure closely corresponds to the proportion of sales representatives who like using email (about 78%).

Why does this matter? Because the communications channel that you use to reach a prospect can be a deal-breaker. If you reach out to them using a platform they barely use, you probably won't get any response.

While sending your prospects emails is crucial, you'll have to be smart in how you go about this. Research shows that buyers receive at least ten prospecting emails in a day. Out of this, only 1 to 5 emails are considered valuable.

So what's the trick to sending a prospecting email that the recipient will want to open? Personalize it!

Why personalized emails work

A personalized email is one that's been tailored just for your prospect, with their preferences, needs and wants in mind.

As such, it's bound to make them feel unique and valued. This, in turn, gives the recipient a sense of consumer empowerment, which drives them to take further action.

This action could be purchasing products that have been on their cart for awhile, subscribing for a course or agreeing to that meeting you had requested.

How to personalize emails

Personalize the subject line

It's stunning to learn the impact that this one small line has on email marketing campaigns.

To be specific, personalized subject lines in emails generate 26% higher open rates. This goes to show just how much effort you should put in when drafting your subject line.

Use a compliment as an email opener

Who doesn't like to get a compliment every once in a while?

So one of the best ways to start a conversation - and one that will definitely grab your prospect's attention - is to give them a compliment. Did you notice something interesting on their LinkedIn profile or Facebook posts? Please don't shy away from commenting about it.

Leverage trigger events

A trigger event is a massive change that occurs in your prospect's company, creating a sales opportunity.

Anytime such an event happens, you should send a personalized email created around that event. Here are examples of such trigger events:

• A rival company makes a move - a rival's tactics can motivate the prospect to upgrade or fine-tune their existing products. This can in turn, necessitate the need to enlist your services
• A new hire in a top position - a new company director may want to implement drastic changes and make more purchases.

Become an Expert in Your Industry

There are dozens of reasons why you should become an expert in your field. But the one that matters here is that it acts as a gateway to more quality leads.

When you have an in-depth understanding of your niche, customers trust you more. This means that not only will they be willing to buy from you, but they'll also recommend you to others.

But becoming an industry leader is no small feat. You'll have to learn as much as you can about:

• Industry trends- keep abreast with the latest that's happening in your field
• Your ideal customers - the trick here is to stay up-to-date with everything that goes on in your prospects' lives. Have they achieved a significant milestone? Then, celebrate with them.
• Your own product - were you aware that up to 54% of prospects make inquiries about how a product works on the first call? To avoid getting caught off guard, ensure you learn everything there is to know about the product you're offering.

How to become a pro in your field

To help you get started, here's a step-by-step guide on how to become an industry expert:

Follow other industry experts

There's no doubt that your industry already has a couple of individuals who've positioned themselves as pros. To be an expert yourself, strive to learn and soak in as much information as they're willing to offer.

Connect with others in your sector

Don't rely only on professionals. Aim to build a network of people who share similar interests and goals as you do.

Specialize

Another thing you'll want to do is to narrow down your focus. Rather than being known as a jack-of-all-trades, choose one segment and immerse yourself into it.

Leverage Sales Prospecting Automation Tools

If you're a sales professional, have you ever stopped and examined exactly how much time you spend selling products? If you're like most, there's a good chance that you only spend one-third of your day making sales.

The remaining two-thirds is devoted to manual duties such as writing prospecting emails, scheduling meetings, gathering data among others.

What if there was a way that could save you time on doing these manual tasks? Amazing, right? Well, the solution you've been looking for is within your grasp: automation.

Investing in the right sales automation tools will save you a massive chunk of time. You can spend less of your energy shuffling papers and more of it looking for quality leads.

How to Use Sales Prospecting Tools

While these tools are indispensable, you don't need to download a ton of them to reap their benefits. You need a couple that can help you:

• Build a list of prospects
• Research your prospects' contact details
• Schedule meetings
• Qualify prospects
• Engage potential leads

If you do a thorough research, you may find one that can handle all five tasks. Check out the following sales prospecting software that come highly-recommended:

Leadfeeder

This is an excellent tool for building your prospects' list.

It analyzes every company or individual that visits your website, regardless of whether they reach out or not. Once you install the Leadfeeder tracker, you'll be able to see who visits each page and how long they spend on your site.

Hunter

Previously known as Email Hunter, this software comes in the form of a Google Chrome extension.

It's designed to find email addresses based on the domain you feed to it. This tool even has a scoring feature that rates the likelihood of the email address being active.

Datanyze Insider

Are you looking for the easiest way to qualify your leads? Look no further than Datanyze Insider.

This software helps you gather crucial details like cellphone number and email directly from LinkedIn. This program also has an "icebreakers" feature that shares subjects related to your prospect's location and social media behavior.

Don't Stop Prospecting

Prospecting is a lot similar to hitting the gym, that is, it only yields results if you're consistent.

The minute you stop prospecting, the size of your clientele base suffers and you'll have nowhere to turn to when business is slow. So apply the same effort to find new clients as you do to retain your current ones.

Tips to create a prospecting plan

If you don't have one yet, start by creating a prospecting plan. Here are a few tips that will come in handy:

Classify your prospects by need

The more you can customize your prospecting plan, the higher the chances of success. So consider dividing your prospects based either on their needs or industries they work in.

Devote time

It's easy to focus your efforts on other sales activities. But prospecting is equally essential. So, ensure you set aside time for prospecting tasks.

While you're at it, be sure to allocate time and resources for both large and small prospects. Don't emphasize only on small-scale opportunities that close quickly. Similarly, don't shy away from large projects that take weeks or months to complete.

Final Verdict

You can never predict when one of your current clients is going to bail or cut back on an order. If you don't have a contingency plan, such an event can eat away at your revenue and profits.

Though you can't prevent such situations from happening, you can protect yourself by consistently adding new clients to your database. In the post above, we've shared seven sales prospecting techniques that work.