When your win rate is lower than you want, you may be chasing the wrong leads. Learn how to stop wasting time and close deals with strategic prospecting.
If your sales team isn't closing as many deals as you think they should and your win rates are low , something is obviously not working. Often, you can trace it all the way back to your prospecting efforts. If you're going after the wrong prospects, you and your team may just be wasting time. Strategic prospecting can change all of that. Here's what you need to know:
Strategic prospecting is a process that helps you identify leads, analyze them to determine whether or not they're likely to become customers, and prioritize reaching out to the ones who fit that criteria. It may seem like a time-consuming process, but it can actually help you save time and other resources. And the benefits don't end there. When you incorporate strategic prospecting into your sale strategies, you may also:
Despite these benefits, according to a HubSpot survey, 42% of sales reps say that prospecting is the hardest part of their job. However, if you break the process down into three components, it might make it a little easier. Start by identifying your ideal customers and building personas. Next, you'll craft a prospecting strategy. After that, you'll keep up with your metrics and use them to optimize the ongoing process.
Identifying your ideal customer profile is always the foundation of strategic prospecting. If you don't get this right, the rest of the process probably won't work either. You need to know as much about your target audience as possible.
You can start by looking at your existing customers and compiling data on them, such as how old they are, where they live, and how much they earn. What are their pain points? What are their interests? How did they become your customers — did they stumble upon your website or did you find them through cold outreach? As you do this, you'll likely discover patterns, which can help you segment them into groups based on similar characteristics. You can also find this information through market research, competitive analysis, and social listening.
Once you have an idea of your target audience, you can use this information to create your buyer personas. These are fictional profiles that represent your ideal customers. They should be as detailed as possible and include demographics, psychographics, and consumer behavior.
Now that you know who your target audience is, you must determine how you will reach them and what you want to say.
Start by setting specific goals for your team. So much can go into this decision, ranging from the size of your company, how long you've been in business, your resources, your industry, etc. You might have a goal of booking 30 meetings per month. Or you might have a goal of an engagement rate of 4%. Just make sure it's clear and that your entire team is on board.
How are you going to reach your prospects so that you can achieve these goals? Again, your unique business needs will play a role in what you choose, but so will your buyer personas. If your ideal customer is a middle-aged housewife with disposable income, you probably won't reach out to her the same way you would a Gen Z woman who just started her first job. If your target audience is business professionals within a 60-mile radius of your company, you might host an in-person networking event, but if your ideal customer is a business professional who lives anywhere in North America, email or LinkedIn might be a better option.
The channels you choose for prospecting will play a role in your messaging, but whatever it is there are a few things to keep in mind. You want to stand out from your competition. Personalization and offering valuable content are great ways to do that. Having a clear value proposition and CTA is also essential. You should think outside the box when possible. For example, rather than sending an email filled with text, film yourself sharing your message directly with the prospect and attach it to the email instead.
Incorporating tools that can help with prospecting can also be a part of your strategy. They allow you to scale your efforts and automate certain tasks, which saves time and makes your team more efficient. CRMs, lead generation tools, sales engagement platforms, social media prospecting tools, and email tracking tools can all boost your prospecting efforts.
You've created a strategy, and now, you've implemented it. What's next? Measuring, analyzing, and adapting to ensure success.
When you want to see how your strategy is performing, turn to your key metrics. Those metrics will vary based on your goals, but consider starting with some of these:
Analyzing your data isn't something you do once. It should become a regular habit. Depending on your goals, you may want to look at reports, daily, monthly, weekly, quarterly, or at any other interval. You can also check your data when you see significant shifts — both positive and negative — in your day-to-day operations.
Utilize your findings to make adjustments. If your email open and/or response rates are low, you may not offer the right messaging. If engagement rates are high, your messaging may be great. Take the lows and make strategic changes to improve them. Take the highs and find ways to duplicate them for even better numbers.
Strategic prospecting is a major efficiency booster. Rather than wasting time trying to reach people who are unlikely to convert to customers, your sales team can focus on reaching people who fit your ideal customer profiles. The prospecting process can be daunting for some sales reps, but when you break it down into three parts — identifying your target audience, crafting a strategy, and measuring results — it can be a little less overwhelming. And when implemented, it can help you streamline your process, seek higher-quality leads, and build stronger relationships — all of which can help you achieve your ultimate goal of achieving more closed/won deals.
