You will see in any sales environment that the key to success is starting with prospecting and this is undoubtedly correct, but what is an effective process and what is just burning leads?

The usual opinion is that prospecting is making tens and hundreds of calls a day (burning potential leads) to get a sale or two, or to send multiple emails to individuals at random, again with the hopes of an opportunity.

This process can provide opportunities…if you are super lucky! This is a single line in the ocean approach and we want a net! A large net!

The “single line in the ocean” approach can leave you frustrated, bored and a feeling of never wanting to do it again, although of course most reluctantly will, and this means your heart isn’t in it, you end up doing it for doing its sake and hit a wall, this is boring, and remember sales should be fun!

So what do we do?

Let’s think about some of the most successful products in the world. Apple products for instance. Apple aren’t calling individuals all over the world with the hopes of a sale here and there, they advertise and market, they target those markets with key aspects of their product in order to develop an interested audience and they do this on as wide a scale as they can to create awareness. If our customers aren’t aware of what we offer they can’t possibly buy it.

So what do you do? what do we have at our disposal that in one foul swoop can access existing, interested audiences or create new ones? Linked in.

Linked in has over 1 billion users in 200 countries, and amongst those users are specific groups that you can gain access to and sell to.

By using your linked in account you can create awareness for yourself and the service, solution or product that you sell.

Start by creating a great looking, useful, informative post, specific to your potential customer’s that will engage your audience and establish new and interesting contacts, and before long you will have the meetings you need to obtain the opportunities that result in sales.

As an example, the industry I sell to is the financial markets and so I have gained access to Trading tools groups, Market data groups, connectivity groups and more. These groups can help you find the trends within your market allowing you to create a post directed to a specific audience to gain the awareness and engagement you need, then repeat what works (80/20 rule, which I will write about in the future).

So give it a try. Join groups specific to your industry, gain an audience and engage, create a post that markets your product and provide the help your customers and future customers need.

I would love to hear how you get on and of course if you need any help or have any question’s you can contact me on Twitter.

Thank you for reading and keep an eye open for my next post.

Andrew