2/13/2013

The Zen Guide to Sales Prospecting

The Zen Guide to Sales Prospecting:from (title unknown) 
Zen guide header-01
If you think about it, we have some fairly violent euphemisms for describing our work:
We wake up and hit the road because we’re road warriors. We hold our noses to the grindstone, occasionally “break a leg” and we all hope to “crush it.”
It’s suggestive of a cultural aggressiveness to our work. In a competitive field like sales, this is especially true. We take on our job, our goals and sometimes our prospects (uh oh) as if they are battles to be won.

But this attitude can be maddening and sap our energy away from us.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The best sales people are focused, deliberate and mindful of what they’re doing. They don’t fight with their work and you don’t have to either. Here are a few recommendations on how you can achieve zen in your sales prospecting:
1) Create a morning routine which clears the clutter
When you get to your desk, spend a few minutes assessing your ideal customer profile. Be honest with yourself about who you think is actually going to be receptive to your efforts and make sure to keep a mental note of it. Prioritize your sales leads, your meetings, and your searches. Start with intent and clear your clutter. Spend a few minutes fixing your CRM – make just 5 changes a day. Get rid of duplicates, append missing information and remove “finished tasks” that are either long overdue and no longer relevant.
A clean CRM will not only eliminate clutter but will allow you to focus on the connections which truly matter {tweet this}
2) Pick one thing you personally want to improve on every month and mindfully practice it.
Everyone has shortcomings they can improve on. You don’t need to go to a bootcamp to learn how to get over your fear of cold-calling. You don’t need professional coaching to learn how to bring up issues relating to money. Start slowly. Find a book relating to your weakness and actively seek to implement its advice. Find one person who has mastered the skill you desire to improve in and ask them to spend fifteen minutes a week to practice or consult.
When you have a sincere desire to learn, people will come to help you. Be proactive and start growing.
3) Use tools to simplify your life.
Work efficiently. You don’t need to waste your time or your sanity perusing the internet for hours. Use tools to automate your searches and bring in inbound leads. Here are a few we’d suggest.
4) Practice gratitude, empathy and sincerity
This one may not immediately translate to more inbound leads, sales or efficiency but it will in the future. When you cultivate genuine relationships with your customers you stand to benefit from their referrals, from new business when they change jobs and sustained loyalty to your products.
These qualities also translate into your leadership of the sales team. Give credit often, communicate openly and often with your team about successes and lessons learned and inspire loyalty. These things will create a culture of collaboration which will be able to maneuver past complex deals and multiple degrees of seperation.
5) Do one thing at a time and focus
When you’re inundated daily with cell phone calls, meetings, storms of emails and a constant stream of information it can be impossible to actually focus on the task at hand. Multitasking means being able to accomplish multiple things not necessarily doing multiple things at once. Close your chat browsers and temporarily disable your pop-up email updates. They’re distractions. Write when you write. Be intentional in your searches. And make sure to measure your day’s activities by output.
Never let your work stress you out. Don’t ever let immediate discomfort stop you from growing. Continuously find ways to improve and give back. You’ll not only have sales zen but you will experience true joy and satisfaction in your work. We wish you the very best.

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