Most sales teams prospect too much or too little, because they don’t have direct feedback to tell them otherwise. You’re cold-calling and leaving voicemails, but no one returns them. You’re emailing and not getting replies. How do you know when you’re prospecting from the wrong tree?
Anyone? Bueller?
In the past, the “solution” was a numbers game: the more people you called, the greater chance someone would pick up and be interested in a conversation. The only difference today is expecting the same success through email.
So why aren’t prospects writing you back?
Sure, you could speculate (it’s a bad time of the year, they chose a competitor, etc.) but that doesn’t help you much. What will help is being able to gauge your prospects’ levels of interest regarding your email content. You can do that when you’re able to measure their electronic activity: when they’re opening your emails, clicking on links to your website, and visiting specific web pages. If a certain percentage of your contacts continue to do this, you’ll know that your messaging is still generating sufficient engagement, even if it’s not yet prompting direct responses. Conversely, if you see a certain percentage of people opting out of communication with you, you’ll know that you’re emailing them too much.
Use this as your baseline for understanding where your prospecting methods are serving you well, and when they need a little adjustment. Above all, continue to reach out. You don’t know when one of your prospects will suddenly have a need. If you aren’t on their radar, one of your competitors will be.
