Javelin Marketing says You Should Never Prospect for Clients
by bobrichards ~ May 21st, 2009. Filed under: prospecting.Every manager has told you that prospecting is the life blood of your business. We say don’t do it. Prospecting is the activity of a sales laborer and not a sales professional. As a sales professional, your time is far too valuable for this clerical, time intensive activity.
Understand that prospecting is the monotonous activity of separating the prospects (those people with an interest and with money) from suspects. So if you had a list of everyone in Beverly Hills zip code 90210, you can safely assume that most have money. But how do you find the 1% that have interest in your product or service? You let a sales laborer do it.
Here are some examples:
1. You delegate prospecting to an outside firm that will design and print and mail a postcard or letter for you. That firm and the post office mail carriers become your sales laborers to deliver your 10,000 mailers. The 1% of the recipients that reply (100 people) are “prospects” and these are the people you should talk to now that the prospecting has been done.
2. You hire a telemarketer or telemarketing firm to call those 10,000 people with your presentation (could be an invitation to a seminar, offer for a booklet, etc). You only talk to the people who express interest.
3. You place an advertisement in the Beverly Hills edition of the LA Times offering your booklet “The Six Best and Worst IRA Rollover Decisions.” You talk to the 50 people that request your booklet. The LA Times is your sales laborer.
4. You hire a company to run ads for you on the Internet and find prospects that meet your criteria. You pay them per Internet lead.
Yes, these all cost money. If you don’t want to invest in your business, then get a job as an employee because you’re not cut out to be a business owner. You can be a sales laborer for someone else.
Sure, prospecting is the lifeblood of any business but you, the sales professional, shouldn’t be doing it.
To outsource your prospecting, visit ProspectMatch
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June 22nd, 2009 at 7:26 pm
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head when it comes to outsourcing the labour. If you can close sales well, the last thing you should be doing is prospecting and qualifying leads.
The trick is to find competent labour that can handle the prospecting on your behalf. It’s such a meat-grinder of a job, anyone with skills moves on to real sales, and those who stick around are burnt to a crisp after a few weeks of being told No!
June 30th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Hey thats true! This is a way of direct sales promotions. But how many people read these direct mailers? i agree if 1% people may have interest in your product but do all these 1%s read your mail is a big question mark.I think direct mailers are outdated way of sales promotion.Think something innovative,like a special feature in the newspaper that goes to most of the houses in the Beverly Hills or a big ad cam also do your work but with much more ease!
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:29 pm
This is so true. I recently hired a sales rep after years of doing this myself, and it has made all the difference - frees me up to focus on business development and he was not really that expensive.
July 8th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Charlie: Its true that the Direct mailers may be the oldest way of sales promotion but its certainly not outdated. Every big company is doing it. The chain stores are very much into it, but yes they also spend a lot on heavy advertising before. Once there product is known they send direct mailers to woo the customers.The way is certainly changed.:)
July 12th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Absolutely true, you can’t be salesman if you are businessman, i agree with you that businessman has more better things to do rather than selling prospectus, and i don’t think so that this is major work that will really effect business. nop, as charlie told, we agree if 1% people may have interest in your product but do all these 1%s read your mail is a big question mark.
Advertisement do really works, publicise your product not by prospectus but by mass advertisement in newspaper or somewhere, where people do really read your’s and show their interest in you.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
The percentage of people who actually read mailers is very low.
July 13th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
I agree that we must have someone else to do the prospecting for us, there are lot of things that needs our attention when we want our business to be successful and that is not prospecting clients.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I agree that it’s great to hire someone to do the prospecting for you, but in today’s economy with companies tightening the strings i’ve found myself doing more prospecting.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Should a business try and gain as many clients and as much money as they can? Or should they focus on ensuring the clients they have continue to trade with them, even if it means they don’t gain as many clients? In today’s global financial downfall, businesses should strive to keep hold of every customer, no matter how much money they spend.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
You would be more efficient by using the geomarketing feature within Google. They allow you to laser focus to a specific geographic area, and it’s a lot more cost effective than direct mail or telemarketing.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Great information - if you are a sales professional - then stick with what you know best - closing the deal - don’t waste your time on the rest. great advice.
July 28th, 2009 at 1:40 am
This is true. I hired a sales representative after you do this alone for years. So I can concentrate on developing the company. Forgive me for my English.
Congratulations on the excellent site!
July 31st, 2009 at 8:46 pm
@Alex : I think businessman is a wider term,but every businessman is a salesperson for sure,infact they are into business for the sales, don’t you think so? The primary objective of a businessman is to earn profit and he does so by selling his products and services, so he/she is a salesperson.And how do we make a sell? by prospecting a customer obviously,an intelligent salesperson will go to that person who may want his product but not to them who do not want his product at all.And how do we know that who want our product, by prospecting only i guess!
August 4th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Thanks for the info- it turns out Microsoft’s bing really is making an impact, it seems to me your blog is getting a lot of search engine traffic from bing- have you found this to be the case?
August 5th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
I found that when I brought on an assistant last year it really made a big difference. It freed me up to do the things that were important to my business. Writing good articles, updating the website, only doing consultations with pre screened and qualified clients. Now I don’t know how I used to do things without her.
August 7th, 2009 at 10:49 am
I also am in agreement with the idea of running your business and not working in your business. However, when you are under-capitalized, how can you take advantage of all the examples bob richards decribes? When you don’t have money to invest, then you must invest time until you can invest money. That means licking stamps, putting out flyers, doing some of your own telemarketing and then as you profit, out-source. All of that to say, do not underestimate or minimize the value of licking your own stamp!
August 11th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
For me the internet lead is the best way. Low cost and high return At least in my country, Brazil.
August 12th, 2009 at 6:14 am
I agree with the advice above. You cant do all of the work yourself and prospecting full time takes some of the joy out of work.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Prospecting is the building block on which many succesful financial advisory firms have been built. Prospecting often gives the adviser the opportunity to contact, speak to and build initial relationships with potential clients. Yes, its time consuming but its also a very good opportunity to foster long term working relationships with clients that can often lead to repeat and referral business. There is much to be said for outsourcing labour intensive jobs such as this in some cases but in the long term it pays off if you have built that relationship from the start. Check out our blog on http://www.xl-recruitment.blogspot.com for similar articles
August 19th, 2009 at 2:02 am
I always discounted using PPC and other methods to find leads - until I helped somebody out with a Google AdWords campaign. Once they hit the “sweet spot”, the leads just started rolling in. The key is to keep track of a “acquisition cost” per customer, and make sure that it continues to make sense.
August 21st, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I agree that it’s great to hire someone to do the prospecting for you, but in today’s economy with companies tightening the strings i’ve found myself doing more prospecting.
Nice stuff.
August 21st, 2009 at 2:06 pm
The other thing i see regularly are that some of the top field based sales people are poor when it comes to telemarketing. Better to use a good telemarketeer and keep the sales person in the field where he performs best.
August 24th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
As well as waiting for leads to come in to a business I think one should also chase business whenever they can. Business networking is a great way to find that 1% that you are chasing because remember people buy off people.
Would you recommend business networking as a sales strategy?
August 25th, 2009 at 2:10 am
I agree, as a sales professional you need to be talking to solid prospects. As a marketing professional, you’d be utilizing the prospecting tools that you mention. As a business owner, you could be _developing_ the marketing and prospecting tools, to be outsourced later. That is what I do.
August 26th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
In one point I agree absolutely. You have to invest in your business. Without the readiness to spend some money, you won´t be successful over a longer period of time.
August 28th, 2009 at 9:51 am
I agree with you when it comes to outsourcing the labour. The key is to be able to utilize all the different resources around you.
August 29th, 2009 at 4:46 am
I’m with Giuliano on the best leads coming from the Internet. The users are searching and then hopefully finding the content they are looking for on your website. Cultivating strong upper level relationships with other business owners is a good use of your time, in my opinion if the potential is there…
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:22 pm
You make excellent points. Especially with “If you don’t want to invest in your business, then get a job as an employee because you’re not cut out to be a business owner. You can be a sales laborer for someone else.” It is very important to outsource time-intense tasks to others (internal or external), because you as the business owner, needs to focus on the bigger picture of your business.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:54 am
Every job demands various set of skills. Sales associates’ jobs titles can also be sales representative, account executive and account representative among others. This description may also be used with many other industries including pharmaceutical sales, insurance sales, retail sales and automotive sales etc. Managerial jobs require high quality organization and human relation talents and abilities.
September 4th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Outsourcing is the key to a successful business. You are a fool if you think you can do it all yourself and you will fail if you try to. Find the best way to utilise funds and maximise profits.
September 7th, 2009 at 3:38 am
This posts makes some EXCELLENT points. Growing a financial advisory practice is a full time business where the advisor should be delegating prospecting and dedicating all his time to meeting with prospects and clients.
September 12th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
smart post…always out-source the labour so you can always be closing…I learned this when I was selling air duct cleaning.
September 15th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Correct. The modern day saying is concentrate on your core business and outsource the rest.
Thanks,
Leo
October 17th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Nice strategy of marketing but you must increase your produk and service.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Great post. I agree with you. When it comes to using resources wisely, outsourcing has become a business strategy with more pros, than cons.
Thanks!
October 24th, 2009 at 3:04 am
This is really helpful post about marketing
Thanks for sharing such useful information.
October 25th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Sure, prospecting is the lifeblood of any business but you, the sales professional, shouldn’t be doing it - indeed, nicly said!!!
October 31st, 2009 at 10:41 am
yes..i do agree with the points you said about prospecting.It is needed but only to some extent i think as it becomes clerical as the frequency gets higher.
bespoke furniture
November 5th, 2009 at 4:36 am
While I do agree in principle - and as most would agree I don’t like prospecting very much - I tend to ACT MORE, i.e. follow up, make appointments, etc, with prospects I found myself.
Also, I think referrals are the key and if I sometimes have to put in elbow grease to find prospects, I feel I’m more likely to get referrals.
In essence, I agree 100% in theory, but in reality I still think prospecting makes a part of my time.
November 6th, 2009 at 11:06 am
This posts makes some excellent points. Growing a financial advisory practice is a full time business where the adviser should be delegating prospecting and dedicating all his time to meeting with prospects and clients. transfer smart
November 9th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Reading this I was wondering how I could apply this to my business. I already outsource a lot of the lead generation and internet marketing stuff to another company. This all costs money, and at the beginning of a business you need to watch the costs. But, yes, agree with what you are saying.
November 15th, 2009 at 8:53 am
This is right. I rent a sales envoy after you do this unaided for years. So I can focus on increasing the company. Pardon me for my English.
By the way well done on the outstanding site!
November 19th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
I believe in giving the best you have to your clients to see and than take a decision. Clients will like you give them what they need.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Outsourcing prospecting is a good investment of resources if you can maximize the outsourcing vendors efforts. If you haven’t invested in discovering and articulating a compelling message that sets you apart, and if your marketing isn’t as professional as it could be or should be, and if you don’t have a sales process to close all of the prospects, then you won’t be able to leverage the great prospecting efforts you’re getting from Javelin. Having a concise business plan, and compelling brand and great marketing combined with a constant flow of prospects could the most powerful way to grow.
November 28th, 2009 at 1:10 am
You’re right - you shouldn’t do the prospecting yourself. But, like Wayne Cotton explains with his system, you need to let your current clients do the prospecting FOR YOU… they’ll lead you to other premium prospects if you ask the right questions. And you’ll get a Prestige Introduction which builds the trust you need to start a new relationship effectively.
December 1st, 2009 at 7:48 am
i do agree with the points you said about prospecting.It is needed but only to some extent i think as it becomes clerical as the frequency gets higher.
December 1st, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Sales representative can work good for you but not to hire a telemarketer or telemarketing firm- thats a big mistate- they can do more damage
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I agree if 1% people may have interest in your product but do all these 1%s read your mail is a big question mark.I think direct mailers are outdated way of sales promotion.
December 5th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
I do not know if it is possible to find creativity in direct mail, but could be an idea.
I liked the site I put in my favorites.
Excuse my English.
December 7th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
I definitely agree with your concept of prospecting! In this time and age you need a firm you can rely on to do the prospecting for you. Great post and insights! Thanks!
December 13th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Good information. I agree with what you say to an extent but am very hands on with my business and lead generating.
Roy Paeth
Chicago First Time Home Buyer
December 18th, 2009 at 2:12 am
As a marketing professional, you’d be utilizing the prospecting tools that you mention.
December 18th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Totally agree with you, Prospecting is the monotonous activity of separating the prospects (those people with an interest and with money) from suspects.You have shared awesome tips with us which help me to get success.Thanks for it.
December 23rd, 2009 at 12:53 pm
All successful sales people know that their success is greatly dependent on their ability to effectively prospect. In other words, the “sale” begins here. 100% of all businesses are prospects for you.
December 28th, 2009 at 12:28 am
Great Post, i forwarded to my partner who is in charge of sales. We have a fantastic telemarketer (sales laborer) who does all of our prosprecting from home. He uses our hosted power dialer so management can see exactly how he spends his phone time and the power dialer makes him more productive. After finding prospects he forwards them over to the sales manager for follow up. We’ve been using this system for a few months now and the pipeline is working well.
January 1st, 2010 at 11:15 am
Well done, you’re absolutely right! The time spent hunting for a lead can be better spent elsewhere. One other thing someone could do, hire part-time salesmen on a commission based salary - you’ll have minimal overhead… If the structure is right, you’ll have them hungry for sales - it’s win-win! Anyways, just came across this and added you to ‘my favorites’ - Best of luck!
January 6th, 2010 at 7:07 am
Direct Mailers do work, I have seen them successful for both small and large companies. However it must be a desirable product or service that is marketed in the mailer. If you don’t have an outstanding product or service don’t waste your time with mailers.
I believe that fabrication companies can have significant success in with mailers simply because very very few competitors, if any are using the same marketing methods.
January 6th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Great article!I was doing prospecting for achieving goals.Now i learn from your post that prospecting is the monotonous activity of separating the prospects (those people with an interest and with money) from suspects.My eyes are opened now,Thanks for it.Your point of view regarding prospecting is great.
January 14th, 2010 at 12:50 am
Well written…
Definetely outsourcing is the best solution if you want to focus on development and to be more competitive on the market
January 17th, 2010 at 12:54 am
Prospecting is definitely better to outsource. It frees my time which in turn allows me to concentrate on more beneficial business strategies. Thanks for the info.
January 18th, 2010 at 4:14 am
I usually do my own prospecting for reasons of cost, but I found much of your info to valuable and will look into telemarketing as an additional resource. Thanks for the info.
January 18th, 2010 at 4:29 am
I do see the point of outsourcing prospecting. Unless you are set up as a marketing company, personal prospecting takes more time than anything else and brings very poor results.
For real estate agent, for example, prospecting could become an absolute nightmare. You have to have a knowledge in a particular marketing niche. You also have to automate your tasks to get any benefit from self-prospecting. Otherwise its a waste of time.
January 19th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Prospecting is indeed the key. I have an assistant and honestly could not survive without him, it comes down to in my opinion great delegating skills, which of course any manager or self employed person must have naturally or learn in my opinion.
Enjoyed the post, thanks very much for the tips.
January 20th, 2010 at 3:15 am
Although expensive hiring a telemarketer will really help you get more client faster. I think thats the best marketing strategy that I’ve applied in my business.
January 25th, 2010 at 12:48 am
Very good ideas. Focus on everyday business- use outsourcing!
January 25th, 2010 at 10:04 am
It is hard to be able to afford outsourcing prospecting like this, but if you can do it…it sure is a great way to free-up precious time!
January 26th, 2010 at 3:35 am
I like a lot those advice. It is true, if you want to make money, start your own business…
This are good tips to make prospecting, but I think there are another ways as good as those in the web
February 1st, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Totally agree with this, it fits any vertical you may choose to look at. If you can close sales well, the last thing you should be doing is wasting time gathering and qualifying leads. Normally the skillsets are different anyway with the labourer and the shark being totally different creatures!
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:08 am
Great post and appreciate all the comments. Lead generation should come both actively and passively. While you should always get referrals from satisfied clients having a turn key marketing system is key to having an ongoing source of leads in your pipeline. This should include both online and offline marketing.
February 7th, 2010 at 4:03 am
It is the best way to hire someone for prospecting but in this day everybody feels that this should be made inside because of costs. As someone said the outsource is the key but it is difficult to keep the costs down.
February 8th, 2010 at 1:51 am
We made the decision to have the sales team sale and add a full time marketing person. It has paid off in spades our agents want to show properties not market themselves and or spend the money and the time trying to brand themselves.
February 9th, 2010 at 10:24 am
I agree with the points that you’ve presented in your post. In business, clients are everything. Clients = sales. This is why prospecting clients is one of the most crucial part in making a business grow.
February 11th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
I completely agree with you. There isn’t enough time in the day to waste with fliers, phone calls, and internet ads, but those things must be done. Especially internet advertising in my opinion.
February 12th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
I agree. Prospecting is a pretty repetitive task and if you have the right support staff or lead gen, you can spend your time closing deals.
February 12th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
I have been considering hiring a commission-based salesperson for some time. Very interesting article.
February 13th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
we should have someone else doing prospecting for us, there are lot of things that need to ne considered. i agree with you.
February 14th, 2010 at 3:33 am
Great advice on the employee vs employer issue. I helped out a friend with her business once and she just didn’t want to spend anything– wanted everything for free.
Needless to say, she’s not in business.
February 14th, 2010 at 6:25 am
Outsourcing is so valuable! That’s why so many companies either use other nations to outsource to or other third-party businesses.
February 20th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
very good post but i think a lot of companies are not outsourcing but keeping it in house
February 21st, 2010 at 5:38 pm
It may be a bit different for online marketing which prospecting done automatically by certain tool
February 21st, 2010 at 5:40 pm
It may useful to just hire outsources for prospecting..
February 23rd, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Outsourcing is a valuable tool, particulalry for something so thankless as prospecting, but there is the danger you lose control and give someone else the opportunity to mis-sell your company;s strengths. It’s important you spend a significant amount of time choosing the right company carefully.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Great information
For me the internet lead is the best way
February 26th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
I haven’t prospected for clients for a long time - if a business is serious enough to take the time to understand how internet marketing can really help their business then they will be easier to work for. Some of my very best clients are the ones that have sought me out.
February 28th, 2010 at 8:06 am
Your right all of the less important neccessities must be completed. This is why outsourcing is so important!
March 5th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
You have given excellent points!. Having an assistant is quite important when it comes to business. And a business man is something more than a salesman
March 5th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
I agree. Prospecting is a pretty repetitive task and if you have the right support staff or lead gen, you can spend your time closing deals.
March 6th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
I agreed with you. Your time is more valuable so outsourcing is the key to success.
March 7th, 2010 at 3:26 am
Outsourcing is good method of cutting cost
March 7th, 2010 at 9:32 am
I definitively agree that the sales pro shoudn’t wast his time prospecting. Outsorcing is the right way to go in most cases
March 7th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Is there an appropiate ROI we should expect, if the prospecting is outsourced? OR is it better to hire and in house telemarketer?
March 8th, 2010 at 2:29 am
Its a nice idea separating thr prospecting from the real sales but a lot of sales is in human relations, you create a spark, a but of personal chemistry, the person buys into your pitch and the cold sale becomes warm..
If this process really can be separated then ok, but often it can’t, just my thought..
March 8th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Seriously,
I agree completely, have the guts to invest. This is probably the best kept secret in business. Owners who scared to make important choices on how to use their resources properly usually fail as miserably as miserable their fear of making choices is.
You don’t get better life by saving and doing nothing, you get what you want by being proactive and having an investor’s attitude.
March 9th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
I agree with these methods. The internet marketing can be effective especially if your business is in a niche market, the cost per acquisition can be relatively low and it is all trackable. That is the beauty of pay per click advertising.
March 16th, 2010 at 2:25 am
Division of Labor,
Always a smart choice.
It’s one of the basis of the modern economy
March 17th, 2010 at 10:28 am
I agree with outsourcing prospects, one way to of marketing strategy.
March 18th, 2010 at 9:23 am
I agree! For example, in our company, there is a separate department who is responsible for prospecting work and it’s true that as long as this team is well established, other departments can benefit a lot from this basis!
March 19th, 2010 at 7:36 am
I use Google adwords for lead generating. Other point I will try out.Thanks a lot.
March 20th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
As a sales professional, your time is far too valuable for this clerical, time intensive activity. Understand that prospecting is the monotonous activity of separating the prospects those people with an interest and with money from suspects.
March 21st, 2010 at 2:27 am
I have been working to an administrator. I am very interested in whatever more you can post about increasing sales of any kind. thank you.
March 21st, 2010 at 4:15 am
This is very good and very true advice. If you’re not willing to spend your money and risk it on you’re business then you’re not cut out to be a business over. It is a huge waste of time to be going around and prospecting for clients, though handing out business cards at trade shows I think is acceptable. You’ll never make it as a professional business owner however, if you decide that you have to go around and waste valuable time knocking on doors and prospecting for customers.
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:37 pm
Probably the most common financial statement fraud is the manipulation of sales (revenue) figures. Learn how it works so you can be on guard against
March 22nd, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Of course newsletter are nessesary for insurance industry particularly. It can help people to understand and make the right choice. Nice post.
March 23rd, 2010 at 3:42 pm
After we hired a sales representatives the difference is signifficant, because we can concentrate on the development of our agency.
March 28th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
I too believe that prospecting is the lowest that you can go when it comes to expanding your business. That’s why the best companies hire agents who do the hard work for them. And they simply rake in profits. Impressive.
March 28th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Well I instill in my staff that they have to make 20 prospecting calls per day, befroe they speak to any account contacts, this way it keeps them on top of their game.
I have been forunate to employ the best in the business who will go that extra mile.
Graham Gallagher
March 31st, 2010 at 1:18 pm
There is much to be said for outsourcing labour intensive jobs such as this in some cases but in the long term it pays off if you have built that relationship from the start.
April 1st, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Yah…Above advice is right.You should have someone else to do prospecting for you, but remember there MUST be limitations.
April 3rd, 2010 at 2:49 am
I agree with leveraging yourself and out source the time and labor it takes to physically prospect for leads. The key is to track you ROI when you out source the marketing efforts.
April 5th, 2010 at 8:47 am
After being in business now for a little over a year, I think you definitely hit the nail right on the head. My business partners wife has just recently started working for us, at a cheap rate I might ad, and it has freed me up to do more “real” business…
April 6th, 2010 at 1:42 am
Much better to have someone spread word about your services, and only spend personal time with the ones that are interested. It makes sense, finding leads and prospects is the most time consuming part of sales, so its likely that you would like the spend more time on making the sale not finding one. I used to work for as a laborer to spread word, and it was tedious work, one that a manager would definitely not spend time doing.
April 6th, 2010 at 7:51 am
I agree if you outsource the process, it can make you more efficient, there is cost involved but more leads translates in more sales.
April 8th, 2010 at 12:31 am
Great Article.
Yeah outsourcing can be very useful and can keep you focusing on what is important.
On the other hand, hiring “temps” from agencies can be hit and miss. Some people will just not take the sort of work seriously because there is no job security and will jump ship as soon as there is a good opportunity.
April 12th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Doing that all on your own is stupid, of course.
But it’s better to start by yourself then by outsource. Otherwise you won’t know what are you paying for and how much does it really cost.
April 16th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
I operate an online real estate website based in New York City, NYCrentals. I completely agree with you thoughts on prospecting, delegation is an important time saving tactic, these are great tips!
April 18th, 2010 at 6:02 am
Excellent advice. Another key is to design your marketing in such a way as to filter out the unqualified so that you only deal with qualified, interested prospects.
April 18th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Correct. The modern day saying is concentrate on your core business and outsource the rest.
Thanks,
April 18th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
I agree, the time and effort spent prospecting for clients can be done my efficiently
April 18th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
This is so true. I recently hired a sales rep after years of doing this myself.Great Article.
April 20th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Interesting article - I think I agree. Always a bit cautious about oursourcing to someone I dont know. Temps are often unreliable - and I would imagine outsourcing would be similar. When outsourcing I would be concerned that their entrepreneurial spirit may take away certain elements of my business.
April 22nd, 2010 at 1:35 am
Personally, I think that if you have to beg for clients or actively start “buying” your clientele, then you are doing something wrong. Provide a great service or product in conjunction with a great website design and they will come to you..
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Hey it’s true. You should never waste time for that
April 23rd, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Yes, it’s really good to start through outsourcing =) It’s always great to have a team that will work for you, as you cannot do business just by yourself.
You need a team to work with =)
Mary of omaha air conditioning
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:12 pm
building trust is very important, especially when building an organization. to keep moving forward and growing challenges.
article that helped me
April 26th, 2010 at 2:56 am
I agree 100%. Outsourcing is the key to productivity and efficiency, which are the fundamental goals of any business or individual in a free market capitalist economy.
April 26th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
try to read influence by cialdini, its very good marketing book
April 26th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Trainee salespeople have to go through the prospecting grind - it teaches so many things. Even the best website produces few email enquiries. The bulk of the work is still a grind, even door-knocking - yes, we still do it!
April 28th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
You make excellent points. Especially with “If you don’t want to invest in your business, then get a job as an employee because you’re not cut out to be a business owner. You can be a sales laborer for someone else.” It is very important to outsource time-intense tasks to others (internal or external), because you as the business owner, needs to focus on the bigger picture of your business.
April 29th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Hi
interesting methods that will help us to find the best way for investing.
April 29th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Outsourcing is also a good way of keeping some other person or agency employed too and you never know what kind of benefits come from this. We outsourced a portion of our marketing and by making just two other people aware of what we were doing they were able to put us in touch with a family member and a friend who needed our services.
May 2nd, 2010 at 12:56 am
I have had great success out sourcing this task to a telemarketing firm.
May 3rd, 2010 at 7:44 pm
I agree that the well designed website is important for the future clients. Your site is a image to the company and good and well designed web presentation can get you a new client
May 3rd, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Too many businesses also spend their time generating endless leads through various forms of marketing, but then fail to allow enough time to follow these up effectively, whether that’s face to face or other the phone.
May 6th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
It is much better to have someone spread word about your services, and only spend personal time with the ones that are interested. It makes sense, finding leads and prospects is the most time consuming part of sales, so its likely that you would like the spend more time on making the sale not finding one. I used to work for as a laborer to spread word, and it was tedious work, one that a manager would definitely not spend time doing.
May 6th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
prospecting clients as well as creating business advertisement campaigns are very time consuming. i do agree with outsourcing these type of tasks to competent people or firms if you have the budget and probably have no time for it. but in my case, i have all the time i need for miscellaneous and productive activities that can help generate leads for my own project and with my clients’. basically, i’m a “do it yourself” guy, but i have no disputes regarding outsourcing tasks to firms and laborers, it’s just that i have the time to do so. but for others who really wants room for expansion in their businesses, outsourcing is very vital to achieve project timelines and further business opportunities.
May 6th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
You should try search engine marketing and search engine advertising. You target the richt people.
May 8th, 2010 at 1:08 am
Financial services is very competitive on the web though so you either need deep pockets or target a very specific niche.
May 14th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
This is an interested point regarding the outsourcing of prospecting but it of course assumes a perfect situation whereby you have the alternative of doing more productive sales, in whatever form that takes. In reality there will be many businesses where there isn’t enough work for this to be true and outsourcing will just add another cost to the business.
May 15th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Hiring online workers can really be helpful because it lessens your workloads so you can focus on more important details and stuffs of your company. I agree what others here said that Outsourcing is the key to productivity and efficiency. Better delegate, it’s best for any company.
May 18th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Establishing trust is very important, especially when building an organization. To keep moving forward and grow with challenges.
May 21st, 2010 at 2:09 am
I totally agree.. Think the best it to target a speific niche on market.. Financial services is too competitive
May 22nd, 2010 at 7:36 am
The 1% of the recipients that reply (100 people) are “prospects” and these are the people you should talk to now that the prospecting has been done. So this point is greet…
May 22nd, 2010 at 5:45 pm
I agree that it’s great to hire someone to do the prospecting for you, but in today’s economy with companies tightening the strings i’ve found myself doing more prospecting.
May 23rd, 2010 at 5:54 am
Outsourcing will definitely be in the future of my company! As soon as I get things rolling smoothly doing it on my own, it will most likely go on to being outsourced.
May 23rd, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I do agree with you.
Prospecting is very necessary for every business.
Sales person and sale laborers should have good prospectus as they are the main person behind the success of any business.
You have just given the solid points here.
I think marketing strategy should also be strong so that the business can prosper.
May 24th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
I think “to prospect” is very hard to do.. i still can not do that very well.
May 25th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
I agree that it’s nice to hire someone to do the prospecting for you, but in today’s economy most people have to do it themselves.
May 25th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Trainee salespeople have to go through the prospecting grind - it teaches so many things. Even the best website produces few email enquiries. The bulk of the work is still a grind, even door-knocking.
May 26th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
too believe that prospecting is the lowest that you can go when it comes to expanding your business. That’s why the best companies hire agents who do the hard work for them. And they simply rake in profits. Impressive.
May 27th, 2010 at 4:30 am
Allot of field based sales personel are not that good when it comes to telemarketing. But if you find one that is good You are better off letting them telemarket and leave your sales people working the field.
May 28th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
I hope the number of services like pay per lead is very less. If we could find a good PPL service with genuine lead it really can boost the efforts.
May 30th, 2010 at 6:16 am
This is so true. I recently hired a sales rep after years of doing this myself, and it has made all the difference - frees me up to focus on business development and he was not really that expensive.
tnss.
May 31st, 2010 at 8:02 pm
I agree that prospecting is indeed the key. Anyway thanks for the article, enjoyed the post, keep up the fantastic work!
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:07 am
This article says about the importance of just focusing on more important aspect of your business while letting someone (maybe outsourced) to do some other task for your company such as looking for leads, sales, marketing because this is the most time consuming part of a business so better delegate some task to other members of the team and start focusing on building and improving your business.
June 3rd, 2010 at 8:18 pm
yes very true because by having a good prospecting will be able to get the best. And better if the work is more professional because it will give the best results.
June 9th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Hi,
Nice topic, i think prospecting is the lifeblood of any business. Well designed website and an attractive presentation is an essential part of the business to grab or to attract new clients. Well behaved prospectus is just like a goodwill of a business.Thanks for sharing an influential post.
June 13th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Sales associates working title can be sales representatives, account managers and account representatives, etc.. Retail sales and car sales and many other industries require high quality management and human relations organizations, talents and abilities.
June 15th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
This also applies to the internet marketing. You can’t get sales if you don’t have targeted traffic. Like building an email list. People who are already interested on your product. Thanks for sharing.
June 15th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Prospecting is a pretty repetitive task and if you have the right support staff or lead gen, you can spend your time closing deals. Good points.
June 16th, 2010 at 1:49 am
I see no problem prospecting. Sometimes a market is so tough that prospecting is the best way to get new clients. My IRS representation CPA Firm has prospected as well as obtained referrals for new clients over the 30 years I’ve been in business.
June 16th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
If you are doing sales, you can’t outsource your most important job - prospecting. I agree 100%
June 19th, 2010 at 12:06 am
Well written…
Definetely outsourcing is the best solution if you want to focus on development and to be more competitive on the market
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:59 am
I have been considering outsourcing even in my tiny photography business. thanks for the great info.
June 24th, 2010 at 7:34 am
It all depends on the person, company, firm. If their resource of time is needed for other activities, then outsourcing prospecting could help immensely.
June 24th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
This article says about the importance of just focusing on more important aspect of your business while letting someone (maybe outsourced) to do some other task for your company such as looking for leads, sales, marketing because this is the most time consuming part of a business so better delegate some task to other members of the team and start focusing on building and improving your business.
June 25th, 2010 at 4:46 am
Thats very true, because most people will not buy from you if there is not some level of trust or familiarity.
June 26th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Hi, New to the marketing, prospecting ,but very important info to know.
June 28th, 2010 at 5:46 am
Prospecting is not a bad practice. You need to do it this day and age.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:58 pm
The chain stores are very much into it, but yes they also spend a lot on heavy advertising before. Once there product is known they send direct mailers to woo the customers.The way is certainly changed.
July 3rd, 2010 at 2:08 am
I personally think that mailers are becoming a outdated form of reaching potential clients. I have have much more success from phone phone online directories. Not the phone book itself but in there online directories.
July 5th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
good it was worth reading , thanks even i agree with the last line, rather consider it as the punch line of the whole article ! it is better to work as a sale professional rather than working as a laborer employee for somebody else !
July 5th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
I wholeheartedly agree! The internet offers so many great opportunities to draw prospects to you that I can’t imagine going person to person or door to door any longer. Like you said, “YES” this can cost money but the amount of time it saves you when added to the results is definitely worth it. The internet is also making advertising / marketing cheaper and cheaper. It may be worth it to some of the readers here to learn some internet marketing from StomperNet or Ross Goldberg - I’ve found both of these to helpful in my prospecting using the internet. Great post!
July 6th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
You’re spot on. In my opinion you should only do the prospecting yourself if it is your only option. Outsource the grunt work to other companies and use your own time more efficiently.
July 8th, 2010 at 5:54 am
his also applies to the internet marketing. You can’t get sales if you don’t have targeted traffic. Like building an email list. People who are already interested on your product. Thanks for sharing.
July 8th, 2010 at 5:55 am
his also applies to the internet marketing.Thanks very nice !
July 8th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
This is true. Having a good prospecting will be able to get the best. Prospecting is very necessary for every business.
July 8th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
I agree with these methods. The internet marketing can be effective especially if your business is in a niche market, the cost per acquisition can be relatively low and it is all trackable. I also suggest SEO… it’s less expensive and long lasting. PPC is only as good as you pay.
July 9th, 2010 at 2:35 am
This is a real great idea but unless you have the fund for prospecting put aside you will have a hard time finding people to do these things for you. Still it is a great article though.
July 12th, 2010 at 2:54 am
very interesting. I have tried a number of different ways to produce leads and prospects.
July 12th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
I agree, prospecting saves you more time and yield effective results. Time spent on doing things your own selective ways can be used differently.
Thanks great post.
July 12th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
This is obviously true.It’s better for us to prospect for ourselves.
July 13th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Outsourcing is great and here to stay. But before outsourcing one could focus on automation or elimination of a task altogether
July 13th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
thanks for giving such helpful advice and now i have realized the importance of prospecting.I hope by employing this i will get my desired results.
PS4
July 13th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Interesting article - I think I agree. Always a bit cautious about oursourcing to someone I dont know. Temps are often unreliable - and I would imagine outsourcing would be similar. When outsourcing I would be concerned that their entrepreneurial spirit may take away certain elements of my business.
July 14th, 2010 at 1:45 am
One of the best ’sales labourers’ then must surely be Google or Google’s search ranking algorithm. If you have your website tuned and promoted by an SEO expert, the only people that visit your site will be highly qualified leads. That’s the beauty of inbound marketing techniques like SEO - no need for prospecting.
July 14th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
If you want to succeed in your business, you really have to invest not only your time but your money as well. If you don’t invest, you won’t get that much in return.
July 15th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
I agree….hire outside help to do it for you- sales people have no time for it. Thanks for the post.
July 19th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Thanks for the post, the idea of starting a business and to see it grow has always the need for exploring new ideas and taking risks implementing it. Finance apart the strategy for undertaking risk is also crucial in the development of a good business. Prospecting is also the way to go ahead in the field.
Thanks again for sharing
July 19th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
You have to invest some money in advertising in order to start and maintain a profitable business. This is more true in certain businesses than others, but it is still an important investment that usually pays off if you market your product/service the right way.
July 21st, 2010 at 4:18 am
I completely agree! You should only be working with “hot” leads. This is why I use Google Adwords…the people who see my ad were specifically looking for my services.
July 22nd, 2010 at 7:24 am
Prospecting is a huge part of being a salesman, but adding value added services will keep them returning. Pro Tip
July 22nd, 2010 at 2:33 pm
building trust is very important, especially when building an organization. to keep moving forward and growing challenges.
article that helped me
July 22nd, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Great Post! Money, time, and consistent effort are all a necessary in building your business over time.