Commercial Prospection : Tools and Strategies

A topical subject at a time when every company is seeking to develop commercially…

From a simple definition to a more sustained and consistent content.

Follow the guide !

Table of Contents

What is commercial prospecting ?

The definition could be the following: activity that consists of looking for prospects, making contact with them with the objective of transforming them into customers and/or business partners or associates.

This action guarantees you access to new customers

It is a very useful method to develop the sales of a company and generate profits.

It can be done in the short or long term depending on the strategy chosen.

The objectives are simple and consist in identifying prospects interested in the products or services offered and contacting them to incite them to buy and convert them into new customers.

Commercial prospecting is often done through promotional campaigns, advertising, mailing and product presentations.

The benefits are many, including increased sales and profits, improved brand awareness and better customer knowledge.

However, it can be costly, time-consuming and require specific skills and tools to be successful.

Strategies, Methods, and Techniques

Strategies, methods, and techniques are numerous, diverse, and varied and can include:

marketing campaigns,
advertising,
product presentations,
mailings, emails, social networks
and in-person presentations by your teams to the sales track

The phone technique

You certainly know it, not for having practiced it but for having been subjected to it.

Many companies use it with the help of call centers.

This is particularly the case of telephone operators who are fond of this technique and who often use foreign personnel for the less delicate ones towards their customers.

Each call has for objectives to collect a new data, a crucial information for the company and which will be compiled in a file, better still in a CRM for example.

To do this, the operator follows a step-by-step guide to try to discover this new data.

Everything is well organized and he can count on his sales tool to know the history of your file, all information is filled in his file.

If his plan goes well, he will be able to reach his sales objectives because let’s not forget that he also has objectives that are set by his company.

The richer the database is with your information, the more the company knows that the sales potential is important and that it is only a matter of time.

The customer rarely imagines the behind-the-scenes plan of the company that contacts him.

The telephone technique can be very effective, as it allows companies to target prospects and provide them with a personal introduction.

However in some cases, by being too pushy, you could bore your prospects and lose customers.

The Mailing Technique

We don’t need to introduce it anymore !

Just look at your email box and you will understand what we are talking about.

Mailing is still relevant because this relatively simple action is in most cases automated for the company.

Customer X or Y receives exactly the same commercial message, only the name changes in the body of the email…

Note that this strategy always works very well if you know how to define and target your ideal prospect.

Simple action to set up, the email is less technical.

However, make sure you send emails with clear information.

You will find on the net many examples of email sequence to set up, step by step, you just have to follow the guide.

Send an email once and it will be used for each new customer.

Depending on the business content you may eventually find new partners.

However, email techniques seem to lose effectiveness against a company that uses digital information available on social networks for example.

Prospecting on Social Networks

Social networks have become a very popular and useful prospecting tool for every business.

This is the big trend that is developing in prospecting.

Social Networks are a real gold mine for those who know how to use them, a potential customer with each like or comment left.

The profiles of prospects are often very well documented and allow to pre-qualify a profile in order to position it in its CRM tool.

Thus LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter can bring you additional sales.

The basis is to follow a plan, have the right tool for your strategy and the sale is only a matter of time and techniques.

The tool has time it, it guides you for example to follow the steps of follow-up, allows you to collect new information that will allow a new sale for your business.

In fact, the customer has little action to defuse the technique of your sales tool.

Sales Prospecting on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the popular professional social network that is often used to prospect in B2B, Business to Business, the ultimate pro environment.

Companies use LinkedIn to search for their business partners in order to expand, both domestically and internationally.

Beware of the limitations imposed for the amount of new contacts possible per month if you are not in Premium.

Avoid automated tools and prefer those of semi-automatic type without direct link between the tool and your LinkedIn account.

Real estate business prospecting

This is the search for properties for sale or rent.

It involves finding owners who wish to sell or lease their real estate, negotiating prices and terms of lease or sale, and closing sales or lease agreements.

It often calls for a commercial action on geographical sector, known as Field.

Field prospecting

Very often used in real estate, this strategy allows you to be as close as possible to your sector.

By meeting people in your catchment area you can gather a phenomenal amount of information on future properties for sale for example.

Be friendly and become the reference in your area if you use this type of strategy.

It may take time but it always pays off.

Google MAPS is often used for businesses with a physical commercial space such as shops.

File of your new customers

This is a database that stores information about your prospects and their contacts.

Today’s digital tools, software, use the term CRM, Customer Relationship Managment.

This database is the heart of the sales technique:

storage of contacts, information about them, tracking and history of actions taken and much more…

What is a Prospecting Plan, how to make it

It is a document that describes the strategies and methods used by your company to find and contact its prospects.

As well as a step-by-step guide to achieving your new customer goals.

It includes information on:

the tools and techniques for prospecting,
the actions to take
the objectives to be achieved,
the budgets and resources needed
as well as the expected results.

It is very important to create a step-by-step plan to follow for this one to be successful.

What qualities do you need to be successful ?

To achieve your goal, your company must ensure that your employees have the following qualities and skills.

The most important qualities for success are:

enthusiasm and perseverance,
knowledge of the products and services offered,
the ability to communicate and listen,
the ability to manage time and work under pressure,
the ability to discover prospects’ needs and offer appropriate solutions
and the ability to handle prospect objections
the relentless drive to action

What are the tools for prospecting

The list is long as this niche is in high demand and therefore with many players, each with their particularities.

Note among the dinosaurs of the sector:

And so many others…

Search the internet for articles offering comparison guide type business content, for example, and you’ll have a much more comprehensive list.

The trades using it

There are many of them because in the current economic climate everyone who wants to get by is looking for more and more leads and looking for solutions to get there.