Salespeople often explore all of the possible ways to avoid prospecting , which is single most critical skill required to increase sales in a tough economy. It is difficult to understand why prospecting is looked upon as such an ominous, intimidating, threatening activity when it can be an adventure, a game of pure strategy, and the most direct method of achieving a higher ratio of new, qualified potential customers and closed sales.

A sale is closed, a contract is signed, a check is cut in the exact moment in which a prospective customer believes that a need will be met. Salespeople will procrastinate and put off prospecting by offering the feeble excuse that “no one is buying,” which may be true in limited, specific situations, but is a complete falsehood in others. It is a “wishful thinking” excuse. The salesperson doesn’t truly believe that no one is buying. They hope that by placing the blame on the economy or any other external circumstance, rather than accepting full responsibility and accountability for their own inner game, they will be allowed to coast along and gather up the low-hanging fruit.

During lean and difficult financial times, the needs of most people increase. When times are good and everyone has money to burn, basic needs are an afterthought and “disposable income” is used to fuel desires, not to purchase survival items.

In a tough economy, sacrifices are made. Budgets are cut. Products and services which are needs, not desires, are trimmed, creating new and greater needs. The salesperson who has trained themselves to pay close attention to the changing tides will see this and act upon it. The salesperson with low motivation, narrow focus and limited imagination will spend their days endlessly trying to force the square peg into the round hole.

Sales is not a “by rote, by the numbers” game. It is the exclusive province of agile, quick-thinking, highly motivated professionals who seek out challenges for the opportunities they contain. The salespeople who cannot or will not accept this become the leaves that fall from the tree, are gathered up, placed into plastic bags, and set out at curbside for pickup.

A salesperson who can fill a need will always make a sale in any economy. Sales prospecting is nothing more than quickly and efficiently isolating the people who have a need that is in direct alignment with the salesperson’s products and services. The problems begin when an inexperienced or timid salesperson takes on the self-imposed burden of closing the sale on a prospecting call. Professional salespeople resist the temptation to “go for the kill” in the opening stages of contact. This does not mean that if a salesperson contacts a prospective customer with an immediate or urgent need who is willing to buy immediately that they should defer the prospect’s eagerness. It means that one out of every one thousand prospects might respond in that manner. The rest of them need to feel confident that the salesperson is someone worth talking to and not a pushy intruder before they will allow themselves to consider buying from them. As a colleague once said, “Time + Trust = Relationship.” People feel good about buying when they have a relationship with a trustworthy seller.

The search for a prospecting “method” is the first trap that most call-reluctant salespeople fall into. There is only one method, available to each and every professional salesperson, regardless of what they sell or where they sell it. It is called “being comfortable in their own skin.”

If a friend or relative calls with a need, there is no anxiety or hand-wringing or procrastination regarding how to respond. There is no manipulation, no cat and mouse games. A need is articulated. One person speaks, another person listens. The act of verbally expressing the need might raise questions for the person listening. The questions are asked, the questions are answered, and a decision is made in regard to whether the people involved in the conversation can work toward providing a solution that meets the immediate need.

That, in a nutshell, is the definition of sales prospecting . Novice salespeople occasionally overwhelm a prospect with “solutions” that they don’t need, don’t want, or can’t afford, and in doing so, sabotage any real opportunity that might have existed. It is critical to do the appropriate homework before picking up the phone or walking through the door. The salesperson must, to the best of their ability and within reason, determine the need of the prospect before making contact.

The next step should also come naturally, but often constitutes the second trap. Just as the time in a salesperson’s day must be managed, so must their expectations. There should be one question on the salesperson’s mind while they are in prospecting mode: “Do they have an interest in speaking with me, and if so, when can I set an appointment?” It is perfectly reasonable to set a closed sale as a goal. In doing so, initial contact is step one. If step one is successful, step two becomes a follow-up appointment. That could lead to a closed sale, additional appointments, or a prospect who isn’t motivated to buy. The only thing a salesperson can control is a complete and sincere commitment to doing their best in each of the steps as they occur.

The time has come for the professional salesperson to embrace prospecting , to personalize it, and to manage their time as well as their expectations. In doing so, they will close more sales.