“You can’t sell to everyone, and because you must sell to someone, you don’t want to pick anyone. Prospecting — and following through to getting the appointent—remains the most important step in the sales cycle. All others cannot manifest if there’s no one to work them on.” So, forget closing the sale; just get the appointment (customer engagement).
What is the most important skill in selling? Prospecting.
Interestingly, when I ask the same question, I’m told it’s closing. And why do I insist it’s prospecting? Because all other steps is the sales cycle are useless if you have no one (a prospect) to work them on. So, forget closing the sale; just get the appointment.
One of the hard truths about selling is that you can’t win them all. And not only because they don’t need or can’t afford your product; but sometimes because they just don’t like you or something you said.
That aside, if everyone you approached bought your product, then what purpose would you be serving? You can’t sell to everyone, and because you must sell to someone, you don’t want to pick anyone. You want to be choosy and limit your options to those who can buy your product— and this is what prospecting is – sieving wheat from chaff.
Free, isn’t. Forget closing the sale
Even free newspaper vendors tend to choose whom they distribute (not give) their (free) wares to.
You are less likely to see them on Mbagathi Way dishing out the paper to the stream of (walking) casual labourers making their way to Industrial Area most from Kibera, and more likely to see them weaving through traffic on Mombasa Road and Uhuru Highway pushing the paper through the slit in the drivers’ slightly open window. (They are at once prospeting and getting an appointment.)
The thinking here is that those on Mombasa Road have the purchasing power to place an advert in the paper and the walking class doesn’t. For those that cry foul at the discrimination, now you know that even “free” isn’t. It must be targeted. So, forget closing the sale-get the appointment.
Selling is prospecting. Get the appointment
Selling is prospecting.
Done correctly, all the other steps tend to fall in place like dominoes. Done incorrectly and you find yourself strumming the harp to a goat. Struggling to get appointments or getting appointments that never hatch.
Regrettably, prospecting isn’t taken with the gravity it deserves. Many sellers tend to gloss over it yet prospecting isn’t something you do when your sales are low. Or, when you are in the mood. No.
Prospecting is selling; it is your livelihood. Like breathing, it’s a full time job; not a part time one. But to thrive in prospecting— and following through to getting the appointments— requires discipline. The discipline to make the necessary number of calls (analog or digital) to get two appoints daily for B2B selling, and eight, B2C.
Read: How to get more sales appointments
I know B2C salespeople who choose to go to where the prospects are concentrated, instead of seeking them all over the place. Insurance and bank sales people who “camp” at Kenyatta National Hospital or such other large employer, and are sufficiently disciplined to present to eight people every day, kill two birds with one stone. They prospect and present simultaneously.
In my books they are miles ahead of the ones lounging in the office making occasional phone calls in the hope that one of the shots in the dark will hit home and an appointment will yield.
How many prospects are enough?
So how many prospects — and therefore appointments— , should I have in my pipeline to meet my target?
Well, take your target. If it’s 100M in deposits and you’re working with a closing ratio of 1:10—meaning that out of every 10 presentations, only 1 converts—then every 20 appointments seen through will get you the 100M you seek. This assumes an average deposit of 50M, though the actual figure will depend entirely on the quality of your prospecting.
And that’s where quality makes all the difference. If you’re targeting prospects who average just 20M in deposits, then you’ll need 5 conversions to reach your 100M target. At a 1:10 closing ratio, that translates to 50 appointments—more than double the effort. Just like hips, numbers don’t lie.
For the vast majority of sellers, continual prospecting —let alone getting the appointent— is equivalent to ‘eating a frog’. Now, because you must eat it to thrive, then do so and be done with it at the beginning of the day, or week or whatever regularity that feeds your pipeline with the number of people you need to present to, to meet your target. Like any other skill you’ll soon realize prospecting is an acquired taste.
Dutifully prospecting— and getting the appointent— is how you take charge of your sales success and feel progressive movement in your career. The rest is just details.
Read: Revolutionize your sales this new year by using atomic habits
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