salessucks

Unapologetic contrarian

What are your goals when prospecting?

This might seem like a dumb question but I was on a podcast this week that made me question my primary goal with prospecting of booking meetings.

Our guest came up with an acronym, "Shine a Light Everywhere", which gets you to focus on all the opportunities available in a sale rather than just the meeting or the close.

He mentioned:

Referrals
Partnerships
Learning
Friendship
Much more

Do you have any other goals beyond just the obvious, booking meetings/generating pipeline?

What are your goals when prospecting?

Attached poll

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

🔎 Prospecting

🎙 Interviews/Podcasts

🙂 Rapport

38 comments

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CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Hi and welcome! We are glad you are here!

goose

Politicker

Sales Executive

Thanks Fox. Oh, you weren't talking to me?

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

🦊❤🦆

salessucks

Contributor

Unapologetic contrarian

Thanks, @CuriousFox. Happy to be part of this amazing (and very direct) group!

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

Hey, welcome to the war room. Just a heads up, content that is self-promoting or company-promoting is against the forum rules and gets taken down by the mod team. If you pull the link out of your post though, it should be fine. It’s a good question otherwise.

I typically do always focus on booking the next meeting and securing the sale, but getting intros to other stakeholders, gaining inside info, and building champions are just as important.

salessucks

Contributor

Unapologetic contrarian

Thanks for the heads up, @BigMeech. I took down the LinkedIn post and replaced it with just the pod. Is that still considered a promo? If so, I'll gladly take it down. Just thought people would want to hear the whole story as it's pretty eye-opening!

salessucks

Contributor

Unapologetic contrarian

Took it down and went anonymous. I get this community now and am loving it!

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

you're going to love it here :)

salessucks

Contributor

Unapologetic contrarian

Fair enough on the goals. Booking the next meeting is always the primary target, but when that's not possible, the other stuff you mentioned is super valuable.

paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

My goal when prospecting is to see how far I can unzip my pants and slowly bend them over until they say enough.

salessucks

Contributor

Unapologetic contrarian

Oh damn. So you creep people into the meeting?

paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

Essentially

friendlyginge

Politicker

Account Executive

Ultimately yes you want to book meetings, but I think more importantly you want to qualify and “get the no” the faster. Why book a meeting with someone and go through the whole process if they were not a fit in the first place?

salessucks

Contributor

Unapologetic contrarian

I hear you there. Getting a quick "no" saves you a ton of wasted effort. A buddy of mine likes to say, "Don't chase, replace" and it works so well!

friendlyginge

Politicker

Account Executive

I like that saying!

InQ5WeTrust

Arsonist

No marketing, mayo isn't an MQL

My goal is just to have a conversation and see if there's interest in having a second conversation.

If the product is super transactional then push for a meeting, but if it's solution selling then at times being focused on the meeting does you a disservice.

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

Question... why out yourself in an anonymous forum? Do you feel that degrades any perspective or advice you put in here, especially considering the vehicle with which you're promoting your content, LinkedIn, is continually shit-on in the WR? (these are genuine questions)

salessucks

Contributor

Unapologetic contrarian

Also, what's WR?

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

Lol... WR=War Room

salessucks

Contributor

Unapologetic contrarian

Hahaha! Can't believe I missed that. Maybe I should go anonymous :p

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

haha, you may want to in the future but for other reasons. It gets hilariously inappropriate in here sometimes. No way I'd tie that back to ME me.

salessucks

Contributor

Unapologetic contrarian

Makes sense. A public forum for people to be real. Can see how that could lead to finding a new job every now and then!

salessucks

Contributor

Unapologetic contrarian

Honestly? I was not aware this was an anonymous forum. I like to have the discussion and couldn't give two $#!+s if people know who I am. I want to hear what people say!
Any advice for adjusting the post to make it fit the community better? First post and I want to play nice :)

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

Not necessarily, I just was curious about the link back to your LinkedIn... it was very out of character for the WR so it stood out to me.

salessucks

Contributor

Unapologetic contrarian

Thanks for pointing it out. Just changed it to the pod link instead. Didn't realize the WR group hated Li as much as I do!

NoSuperhero

Politicker

BDR LEAD

Having a conversation first, find a pain if that's where the conversation goes, and then book the meeting. Sometimes having a book a meeting approach makes you sound salesy and people smell the commission breath from miles.

MinisterOfChaos

Politicker

Commercial Account Executive

I feel like every option is a goal while prospecting.

Everything stems from Booking a meeting, but my goal with prospecting is to move the ball forward as much as possible.

If that means I get told that there is someone better for me to be having the discussion with... that's a win. I didn't book a meeting, but I definitely moved the ball forward (if only half a yard).

LordBusiness

Politicker

Chief Revenue Officer

Friendships?

sellingsellssold

Politicker

SDR

Booking a meeting with a good prospect making sure they are a good fit and hoping they like the product

BeatCancer

Fire Starter

Account Executive

Booking a meeting. Then from there can discover if they are a match for me and then proceed

Sales And Marketing Specialist

What if I told you that the #1 thing you can do in your prospecting call is to DISQUALIFY the opportunity? Go for the no. You'll sound like very few other sales people, but if you can determine in the early stage of the sales cycle that this individual does not meet your "musts" for an opportunity, you've saved yourself time, energy, and heartache when the deal stalls our or doesn't close.

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Prospecting refers to finding what is hidden and/or believed to exist in a particular area.

we can break out the urban dictionary if necessary, but there’s really no need to get too complicated with it.

you are calling for money. Plain and simple.

SADNES5

Politicker

-3

down voters are marketing spies

Great post. Sorry you met the bears on the first day/post.

I book for sales. Pre qualify and find need beforehand. Then get them talking.

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

I don’t see any bears on this thread man…

SADNES5

Politicker

down voters are marketing spies

Look again 🤣

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

...are you calling me a bear?

SADNES5

Politicker

-2

down voters are marketing spies

Got the I disagree button out I see...

salessucks

Contributor

Unapologetic contrarian

Thanks, @SADNES5. Sure was a wake-up call but I appreciate the banter and directness. Why I love being in sales in the first place :)

Good point on the pre-qualify as I see a TON of SDRs try so hard to book the meeting they forget to tee the AE up for success...then wonder why their show rate is so low!

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salessucks

What are your goals when prospecting?

What are your goals when prospecting?

38 comments

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