Are You Fishing with Blunt Hooks?

An extremely important component of growing any business to the point where it becomes self sustaining is prospecting for suitable clients or customers. As a business owner, you need to set the lead for others to follow if you want to elevate the importance of prospecting for future business to its rightful place as a key component of your business plan.

All business owners have to prospect, and some are far better at it than others. If you, and those you employ, avoid the seven common mistakes that others frequently make when prospecting, you will become very good at it, and your business will grow quickly.

The first and most common mistake in prospecting is simply not doing enough of it. As a business owner, you must understand that the work you do today, in uncovering suitable prospects, represents your income for weeks or months down the track. The absence of constant prospecting activity equals no constant income in the future, and creates the real and dangerous potential for cash flow problems to develop in your business.

The second mistake is prospecting with the wrong attitude towards the job. When you prospect with a positive attitude towards the work which needs to be done, and you expect that work to generate good business leads, you will usually prove yourself to be absolutely right.

The third mistake is not having a good system in place to ensure that all leads generated are followed through with, and all income potential is maximised. Without systems, too much falls through the cracks and unproductive activity will prevail. Before you commence any prospecting activity make sure that your business has a CRM package in place, and that all involved in the prospecting activities are familiar with it, and understand the importance of recording all activity and outcomes.

The fourth mistake is prospecting the wrong people in the first place. Are your potential prospects going to deliver your business a high enough return on the investment made, are they geographically positioned to make servicing them a cost effective option, do they actually want what or need what you are offering, are you face to face with the decision maker or a key advisor to the decision maker?

The fifth, and a killer of a mistake, is not asking the prospects you do get in front of, for referrals. It is vital for all business owners to remember that when you are prospecting, you are not only prospecting the prospect, but anyone else they know, who may have a need for your offering. Always remember, if you don’t ask – you don’t get.

The sixth mistake in prospecting is a reluctance to invest in direct mailing to potential prospects that you have on any database you own or control. Mail them monthly at a minimum, and the frequency of touches will eventually deliver a regular stream of people wanting to take up what you are offering, and who will also be willing to give you referrals.

The final, and an all too common mistake made by business owners, is to stop regular and consistent heavy prospecting just because they have a few good weeks or months flowing on from previous prospecting activities. Never forget, that a drop off in prospecting will inevitably result in a drop off in income for your business in the coming months.

How does your business measure up in terms of the returns from your prospecting activities?

Does your business have a program of activities which constitute a constant and effective prospecting machine?

Do you need to sharpen your hooks?