Prospecting aka Cold Calling:
It's All in How You Look at It

Without a doubt, cold calling or prospecting is the number one problem for sales people. We spend plenty of time "trying" to close business. Probably because once we find someone with any interest at all, we can feel comfortable with giving them lots of reasons to buy.

Even when we get the "I need to think it over" reply, we would rather wait for them to "think it over" than go find someone new to speak with.

It's the effort of finding someone new to speak with that is the biggest problem. If you want to be more successful in sales, go out and find more people to speak with. Lots of them!

There is little argument that prospecting is one of the disciplines a salesperson must master. Perhaps the most important discipline. Why then is it the one least understood and most often neglected? The most likely reason is that prospecting takes place at the beginning of the selling cycle, but the reward for the time and effort invested are at the end of that cycle.

Many times, your prospecting efforts result in little or no gain at all. You must walk through many doors before finding one person with enough curiosity, let alone sincere interest, to talk with you. You disqualify several suspects before finding one real prospect that eventually becomes your new client or customer.

You can view prospecting from one of two perspectives: An activity filled with frustration and disappointment, or a journey where each unproductive step gets you closer to your ultimate goal and success. The choice is yours.