Staying in touch for all the right reasons

Prospecting is the function and ability to ignite opportunities with new and existing clients, new markets, within communities. Prospecting opens many doors if we are prepared to do it – consistently.

However, prospecting is probably the least favourite activity of people in business. Some people don’t know how to prospect which is a big deterrent to any task. But that can be easily fixed with training and coaching. Even so, others seem to find every excuse under the sun not to call someone.

It’s not the right time. What if they are busy? What if they say NO or reject me? I don’t want to be seen as too pushy. I don’t have everything ready yet. I shouldn’t have to call people they should know what I do already. They know where to find me if they want something. I’m not a salesperson – calling prospects is beneath me. I’m too busy with other things on my To Do list to worry about calling people.

The list goes on.

If we let these myopic views and limiting beliefs overwhelm us, nothing would ever get done; new ideas, initiatives, or businesses would never have started; relationships wouldn’t be formed; sales wouldn’t come in; opportunities would die; and businesses would collapse. 

Life is all about opportunity –to make a difference, create something new, make people’s lives better, make money, be prosperous, achieve and succeed.

Selling, prospecting in particular, is the ultimate life skill in knowing how to stay in touch with people for all the right reasons. Prospecting is the oxygen that fuels the fire of business and communities.

Making time to prospect and stay in touch with people is essential to the world of business and human relationships in general. It’s what keeps us going.

So don’t leave prospecting sitting on the back burner. Nothing’s going to happen until you make it happen. 

There is a myriad of reasons to stay in touch with people for all the right reasons.

Calling a friend or family member or client or colleague to check in and see how they are going, dealing with lockdown, checking in on their wellbeing and so on is an act of kindness and care. Let’s call these care calls.

Calling a client or new prospect to introduce them to a new initiative or idea, or a new product or service that might just change their world for the better is an act of consideration for mutual benefit. Let’s call these new business prospecting calls or new opportunity calls.

Calling a client to follow up a on just made sale, or project in progress, or outcomes from the work we’ve done is an act of respect. Let’s call these relationship management calls.

Calling a colleague, client, or prospect stakeholder(s) to assess a situation, determine what’s at stake, who’s involved and what needs to be considered before we act is an act of regard.  Let’s call these strategic partnership calls.

These are just some examples of the reasons we need to and must call people.

One final note: Don’t hesitate or hide behind emails or social media messaging either. 

Use your phone to actually call someone.

The act of picking up a phone and calling someone to find out how they are, or ignite an idea, introduce a concept they may find useful, interesting, or enlightening is an act of kindness and generosity.

Imagine someone calls you to let you know about something that could change your life for the better – wouldn’t you want to receive that call? I know I would.

In a digital world we need reminding sometimes that selling is a human-to-human activity and the phone is such a useful tool to get things rolling. And while prospecting is always essential in a world with no movement restrictions, in a Covid world, the phone has become once again THE prospecting tool of choice.

Sure, you need to know how to make effective and engaging prospecting calls; there’s process and skill involved -if you don’t know how to, just call us, we can help you get really good at prospecting- however the secret to successful prospecting and selling is to call and call often for all the right reasons.

Remember, everybody lives by selling something.

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