Double Your Success in Sales: 10 Ways To Find More Prospects

An exhaustive guide, by David R Ednie, President & CEO of Sales Channel Europe

Have you ever wondered why some people in sales are always over quota while others seem to be always behind plan? Why are some people highly successful in sales while others aren’t?

There are plenty training programs and books on “How to close the sale”, “Negotiate to Win”, etc. So why do we see such wide variations in people’s success in sales today? Are some sales people just naturally better closers than others? Yes, maybe. But I believe that there is something much more important going on here. In fact over the last 25 years working in sales I have seen something very different which I believe is the foundation of success in sales.

Let’s consider the basic steps in the sales process: 1) Identification of an opportunity, 2) understanding the customer’s needs, 3) making a proposal, and 4) negotiation and close. Traditional sales training tends to focus on negotiation and closing and conventional wisdom tells us that success in sales = ABC Always Be Closing.

If you can double your closing rate you will increase your sales by 100%. Question: Is this really possible and can it be done in a sustainable way? I think not. So what is the real key to success in sales today? The answer lies at the start of the sales process: Step 1) Identification of an opportunity or prospecting. By simply finding more prospects you will dramatically increase your success in sales. If you double the number of prospects and hold your closing rate constant, you will double the number of sales you make. So the secret to success in sales is ABP Always Be Prospecting.

Over the 10 chapters we will look at 10 different ways to find more prospects, that will improve your prospecting techniques and double or even triple your success in selling.