Sales is indeed a challenging career. Ironically, it usually comes with little to no training. Very few people study sales in college, and even if they do, the practical application and techniques are rarely taught in classrooms.
Ultimately, sales boil down to getting people to purchase products or acquire services from you. But that’s not all it takes.
One of the strategies you need to master is prospecting, and in this post, WhoKnows, your trusted experts in startup lead gen, are going to tell you why prospecting is essential and what role it plays in the sales funnel:
But First, What Is a Sales Funnel, and How Does It Work?
Sales funnels refer to the online or offline process in which a company attracts, acquires, and converts a lead into a customer. Online, a sales funnel is the process of drawing in traffic and directing it to the funnel. After that, the goal is to get leads to move through the funnel, which helps convert them into customers.
Why Do You Need a Sales Funnel?
In today’s marketplace, not every new prospect is a guaranteed customer, so it’s important to use a process to narrow down the number of folks you’re working with, so you can focus on the ones who are most likely to buy.
A sales funnel is the perfect way to achieve that. Rather than spending time and effort on a mass audience, companies can focus their efforts on those who’ve already proven they’re interested in what you have to offer.
How Prospecting Fits in the Sales Cycle
Prospecting is the first stage of the sales cycle, where you contact potential leads and attempt to persuade them to give you their business.
Prospecting is the process of finding prospective customers and convincing them to become leads. It comes before lead generation (the process of collecting contact information and website data) and after lead capture (which involves gathering information about a prospect’s company and job title).
Why Is It Important for You to Master Prospecting?
Prospecting is vital because it’s at this stage that you determine whether or not you want to move a lead closer to the sale, so it’s crucial to get a sense of whether they’re a good fit.
In theory, anyone could be your next customer, but the goal is to find those most likely to buy from you. If you’re reaching out to prospects who don’t need or want your product or service, you’ll be wasting your time and resources trying to move them through your sales funnel when ultimately, they won’t make a purchase.
Conclusion
Prospecting is a necessary process that plays a vital role in the sales cycle. However, it’s not a one-and-done endeavor. As you advance through the process, you’ll need to continue contacting the most promising prospects, so it’s important to follow up with those who are most likely to buy from you.
But who will manage this process for you? WhoKnows, that’s who.
Our goal is to manage your entire lead generation and sales funnel process so that you can focus all your efforts on your business. To learn more about how you can use our system for your startup lead gen, reach out to us at WhoKnows and let’s talk!
