Selling Smarter 3 - Using Leading Edge Prospecting Strategies

Step 3 in the Selling Smarter ideas is to use leading edge prospecting strategies.

Increasingly, high-value selling is moving away from cold-calling and relying more on the effective use of professional networks. From list-building, to attending networking events, to actively seeking referreals , to using social-networks to establishing customer communities on websites - these are the tools of the new sales r'evolutionaries.

Networking at events is a core skill of a r'evolutionary sales person. The ability to attend professional and semi-professional events and use that event as a lever for identifying and engaging with contacts that will be of value (eventually) - either as direct clients or as referral sources for potential clients is an effective use of time and resources in todays' time-starved age.

Not everyone is comfortable with networking however and the stereotype of the 'brash' networker is a real put-off for people. However, we can distance ourselves from that old stereotype by learning the real skills of professional networking. In the new sales DVD/CD programme R'evolutionary Selling coming out in May I reveal all the secrets required to do this effectively and profitably.

Referrals are critical to business success - the power of a referral - where you carry the reputation and 'trust factor' of the person referring, you guarantees you meeting time with a prospect. Such referrals should be treated like gold - as should the referrer.

Using the Net for prospecting and marketing is becoming a simple fact-of-business. 'List-building' - the 'ethical' collection of names and address to build electronic mailing databases is essential. Such names and emails however should be respected and never used for 'spamming' (unsolicitied emails), should always be allowed to 'opt-out' of your mailings and never passed on to third parties.

In addition , businesses (even small ones) can apply the use of social-networks to create customer communities where customers can feedback, interconnect and generally engage in the provision of our solutions for their businesses. To start small on social networking see www.Ning.com and see the how it works on the free social 'opt-in' network www.rebelisland.net

Step 4 on Selling Smarter next time on SeanWeafer.com R'evolutionary.