1 Minute Marketing: 3 Steps for Effective Prospecting

Just waiting for customers to find your business is a game you won’t often win — you need to reach out to untapped parts of your market. Prospecting in a new market can be one of the most difficult parts of running a business, but it is also often the most essential to spread your impact and improve your bottom line.

There are three primary steps to prospecting effectively, and they should be a part of your strategic e-marketing plan.

Determine what market you are targeting with specifics and qualify individual prospects within it. Having a narrowly defined target market will allow you to provide offers that are the most relevant to those individuals. This also makes qualifying prospects within that market much easier in terms of their ability and willingness to buy.
Don’t do all the talking: Ask your prospects questions about their needs and listen to their answers. This is a part of the qualifying process, but it also gives you insight into how you can best help them with your product or service.
Follow up and provide value when you do. Traditional follow-up sales calls are often thought of as “touching base,” but there are better ways to reconnect. Offer something of value to your prospects when you check in with them and it becomes more than a sales pitch, whether it’s an ebook on a related topic or information on an opportunity they can use now.

One additional tip: Don’t take rejection personally. Getting a positive response from everyone on your list is not a realistic goal, no matter how good your pitch or your product.