Sales Prospects In A Recession

In a pending recession, the question always comes up on how to find more qualified prospects since a business will need more prospects in order to close the sale. Since businesses spend less money in a recession, you will need more prospects in order to keep your business at its current revenue levels.

During a recession, the best sales process is one that can quickly and inexpensively maximize the number of qualified prospects. This is often done by relying on the internet or targeted lists for phone prospecting.

One of the key skills that a business owner needs is the ability to find a good list of prospects. These lists can be found on the internet and also can be purchased from a list broker.

The use of Capture Pages or what is also called a Landing Page has become a popular way of gathering leads on the internet. Normally a free offer is made in exchange for the person filling out the form. This type of marketing or lead generation is also called Permission Marketing.

In order to educate the prospect, sometimes a direct mail piece is sent to the prospect to warm them up prior to a phone call by the salesperson. Psychologically this also makes it easier for the salesperson to make the call.

When going after the lead off of a Landing Page, one mistake that is made is to think that the prospect is partially sold but all the prospect has really done is to raise their hand and say they are "interested" based on filling out the form on the Landing Page. In most cases the script should not trigger sales pressure but be more of a consulting phone call where the prospect does most of the talking.

One area that is frustrating for salespeople is what to use for an opening statement when doing cold calling. It really takes a specialist like a Cold Call Consultant or Coach to help the salesperson create a script that does not sound like a telemarketer or a salesperson. The best scripts engage the prospect where the prospect does the majority of the talking in order to let the salesperson know if he/she is qualified.

One action that a business owner needs to take while developing a sales process is to actually do the cold calling so he/she can develop a script to be delegated. The fear of cold calling comes from a fight between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. The more a business owner understands how to control and use their subconscious mind, the more successful they will be because they will eliminate the fear of taking actions like cold calling that move the business forward.