Prospecting is just part of the sales profession. Consider cold calling, some love it, others…… Most people feel ill at the thought. No one likes rejection, and calling strangers is hard work fraught with all forms of rejection. One thing to think about is a sell is made on EVERY call.  Either you are selling prospect why they need your product/service or they are selling you why they don’t.

The average person is bombarded with thousands of sales pitches daily: ads, junk mail, sales calls, etc. If you are like most people, you don't like to be "sold." And you probably don't like doing "sales," or don't feel particularly good at it.

In the book Mutual Respect www.MutualRespect.net the first line is everyone sells, everyday. Unfortunately, if you are in business, then you are in sales. You must reach out, in some way, to make more sales. This is a dilemma!

There are many alternatives to cold calling to find new prospects. Imagine someone bringing a stranger to you, and saying excitedly: "This is Jane Doe, my widget source I told you about! I just know that she can help you with your problem of finding good widgets at the right price when you need them. I'll bet you feel relaxed, happy, and confident. Heck, you've got an instant relationship with a stranger. You’d probably like someone your friends or associate likes, knows and respects. This isn't "sales" anymore, this is just doing business with a friend!

Another scenario you can imagine is when someone CC’s you on an emails to a potential customer and tells them what a great experience they had with you. I refer to this as a warm call when selling! See the example below:

Glen,
Last week our company participated in a full day workshop hosted by Bob Beck from a company called Sales Builders. The content of the presentation was focused on training our sales force on how to work smarter, not harder in identifying leads, appropriately following up and effectively closing deals.  The tools and perspective he provided our team were straightforward and something that our team feels comfortable in implementing immediately.  I’d highly recommend you have a conversation with Bob (cc’ed on this email) to see if he can assist you and your sales force.

Best regards,
Jane Doe
Senior Vice President XYZ

Most of the times these email referrals don’t just happen. You will typically have to train your referral network. If someone thinks enough of you to refer you, they will certainly take the extra 60 seconds to shoot out an email and copy you on it.