Why is prospecting important for salespeople?

Prospecting is essential because it helps salespeople identify and initiate contact with potential clients. Without prospecting, there’s no pipeline — and no pipeline means no sales.

What are the common ways salespeople find prospects?

Salespeople can find prospects through introductions, social media, networking, internal referrals, cold calling, email outreach, association memberships, purchased lists, and business networking groups.

What's the next step after finding a prospect's name?

The next step is to make contact — typically by phone or email — to engage the prospect, understand their situation, and determine if they are a good fit.

Why is prospecting so difficult?

Prospecting involves frequent rejection, emotional highs and lows, and a lack of immediate payoff. Salespeople face hang-ups, ignored calls, false interest, and cancellations — which makes the process emotionally taxing.

Do salespeople need to enjoy prospecting to be successful?

No, they don’t have to like it — they just have to do it. Discipline and consistency matter more than enjoyment when it comes to successful prospecting.

How can handling rejection improve sales performance?

Salespeople who are rejection-proof are more likely to ask tough questions, stay objective, push through objections, and recover quickly — all of which drive sales success.

What traits help a salesperson become rejection-proof?

Traits include emotional resilience, active listening, confidence, objectivity, and the ability to bounce back from failure without internalizing it.

What increases the chance of success when prospecting by phone?

Having a solid, distinctive phone approach that doesn’t sound like every other salesperson increases the likelihood of starting meaningful conversations.

Dateless and Desperate: Prospecting in Sales

Posted September 22, 2025 in Sales Brew

I still have vivid (and painful) memories of my middle school and high school dances back in the good old days of the 1980s. Beyond having to dress up, my larger fear was climbing the Mount Everest of all challenges…finding a date to go with me.

And while I had multiple problems on that front, chief among them was one simple fact: I did not have many options. Ok, I will come clean – I did not have any options. I knew it, and so did the girls I was asking to go with me.

That brings us to today’s Sales Brew, dedicated to the broken hearts of salespeople everywhere who can’t get their prospects to meet with them.

Why Prospecting in Sales Changes the Game

In selling, you are always doing one of two things: pushing yourself onto the prospect or pulling the prospect toward you. Either you are selling into the wind or the wind is at your back.

If you are fighting the wind and struggling to get the prospect to finally agree to see you, the issue may be clear. You don’t have anything close to a full calendar, and both you and your prospect know it.

The Power of a Full Pipeline

We have talked many times in our Sales Brews about the importance of prospecting. The most important reason to always prospect is that it allows you to fill your opportunity pipeline so you don’t have to depend on any one deal.

If it makes business sense to meet, schedule the meeting. If not, that is ok. And it has to be ok if you are going to avoid sounding dateless and desperate.

Even if you don’t have a full pipeline or a full calendar, you can at least sound like you do. There is no law that says you have to admit to being down on your luck and desperate for any kind of prospect meeting.

Our co-founder Tony Cole has always asked this question: “How would you act if you had zero need for the meeting or even the sale?” The answer is simple: act that way all the time. Even if you don’t feel that way, act that way.

The Reminder Salespeople Need

Nobody wants to do business with someone who is not in demand. That might be all the reminder you need to demand more of yourself, especially in your prospecting efforts.

Why Prospecting in Sales Changes the Game

The Power of a Full Pipeline

The Reminder Salespeople Need

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