The Prospecting Paradigm Shift

Over the weekend I received an email from a salesperson asking me if I felt the “old-way relationship marketing is dead.” Her boss had told her to just get out there and prospect for leads. Stop trying to nurture prospects.

It didn’t sit well with her, so she emailed me asking my opinion.

I know that many VARs are anxious to find leads. Managed service providers want to close two new accounts per rep per month. Software providers want to close three new customers per quarter per rep. The pressure is on.

But limiting yourself to pounding the phones isn’t the way to make those numbers.

Without a relationship, your sales team is just a group of transactional product salespeople. And guess what happens then? Highly competitive sales cycles with tremendous pricing and terms pressure. Sales activity is high but win rates are low.

Rather than pressure your salespeople to make 100 calls a day to set appointments, encourage them to lead with nurturing lead generation strategies to get new leads by building recognition for themselves and your company. In sales, that means using a healthy mix of warm calling, email and social to get noticed. This paradigm shift in prospecting strategy creates a desire to work with you based on value and knowledge—not price or a script.

Kendra Lee is a top IT Seller, Prospect Attraction Expert, author of the book, “The Sales Magnet” and the award-winning book, “Selling Against the Goal” and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group works with companies to break in and exceed revenue objectives in the small and midmarket business (SMB) segment.