Want better leads in 2023? Use these sales prospecting techniques

The goal of every business owner, brand, or even salesperson is to sell their product or service to their dream customers – but in order to do that, the customers must first be found.

Prospecting (the process of finding potential customers) is one of the critical stages of the sales process, yet it remains one of the most challenging. We’re not just saying that; a report by HubSpot states that 42% of sales reps named prospecting as one of the most difficult tasks to undertake.

Plus, we have experienced and seen it firsthand here at SalesWorks. With over 25 years of experience in sales, marketing (face-to-face, especially), and fundraising as well as a presence in 8 markets across Asia, we understand the challenge of finding the right customers.

We’re here to help.

As we come close to the end of 2022, it goes without saying that companies and businesses will be putting together ideas for a better 2023 – which is why we’ve listed proven prospecting techniques that could directly or indirectly help with your strategies next year.

Traditional sales prospecting techniques

What comes to mind when you think of traditional techniques for getting new leads? Yes, direct mail, business cards, cold calling, networking, referrals, attending events, display or outdoor advertising, or even door-to-door sales are all considered traditional methods.

These are often employed for small, big, B2B, or even B2C businesses. That being said, each company has its way of prospecting. Some may choose to run Facebook Ads alone, while others may prefer to do cold calls.

The problem? These traditional methods may not be scalable. We don’t mean that they aren’t successful; they are effective indeed. However, the only way you can get more customers this way is by hiring more salespeople to do the work for you.

(Side note, do contact the SalesWorks team if you need help with this for your 2023 efforts).

7 proven sales techniques to find and convert your ideal customers

We’ve detailed what you need to know and do, and the beauty of these techniques is that they can work for any kind of business imaginable – no matter how big or small!

1. Answer the question: “Who is your dream customer?”

You can’t start a journey without a destination, and the same goes for your prospecting strategy. So, if you’re thinking of finding your dream customer, list down the qualities that you should be looking for in the first place.

Take the time to build your ideal customer persona or customer avatar to work by. Some questions to ask include age, occupation, pain points, concerns, biggest barriers, location, and income level.

2. Map out your value ladder

This is an important step if your brand or company has multiple products under your portfolio of offerings. This is so you can begin “pulling” your prospects into purchasing “inexpensive” products first and then slowly introduce more valuable products.

Plus, it would help you understand where your customer is in their sales journey with you. Here’s an example of what a value ladder would look like for a dentist:

3. Find your Dream 100

This system, called “The Dream 100” is to find places where your customers are (online and offline), so you can get out there and market to them.

An easy way to do this is to create a spreadsheet and mark down, for example, 10 cafes that your customers usually visit or 10 group activities they participate in. It could be anything, but you know your customers best! From here, you can figure out ways to “infiltrate” the groups or online pages.

4. Build and start a sales funnel, and follow up

Now that you have your Dream 100 ready, it’s time to send that traffic to a sales funnel. Again, this can be customized according to your customers, as long as it gets them to perform a specific action like signing up for a newsletter, an email list, purchasing a product, donating to a cause, etc.

But the work doesn’t stop there. We know that not all customers convert on the first try. Sometimes, they need time to trust you or get to know you, which is why a follow-up is crucial. It could be emails, another meeting, or anything else – but remember to nurture these leads!

5. Work with affiliates

If you have a customer that loves your products, keeps repurchasing them, and even recommends them to others, this is an opportunity to turn them into an affiliate.

This is a great way to have “influencers” or product experts sell for you, so take advantage of it and offer them a commission if possible!

6. Use customer relationship management (CRM) tools

This is a simple but important tip, which is why we’re putting it on the list. Be sure to use CRM software to remove a lot of tedious work, so you can focus more on prospecting.

7. Continue to ask questions and get feedback

Last but not least, remember to always talk less, and ask more questions like, “what problems are you facing?”, “how much are you willing to spend to solve that problem?” Once you get the answers, you would know how to make more sales.

Here’s a cheat sheet to help you:

These seven tactics will help you not only find your dream customers but also convert them. It has worked for the SalesWorks team, and will most certainly work for you. If you have questions or would like to find out how we can help you, contact us today and let’s see how we can work together in 2023!