In good times or bad, sales professionals and entrepreneurs need to prospect for new business. You can’t rely on existing customers alone to generate all of the new business you need.

The recent recession has provided many lessons. Imagine being a company dependent on construction firms or home builders. As the recession of 2008-2009 hit, home builders were devastated. And so were many construction firms. Companies who relied on these industries for business suffered greatly. Don’t make the same mistake!

Here are 5 Reasons to Prospect for New Business:

1. Prospecting for new business creates opportunities

Prospecting is the act of finding qualified sales prospects. You can prospect by phone or in person. You can also prospect online or through mail or email, although that is often considered a marketing activity. In either case, any activity that helps to generate a lead creates an opportunity for a new prospective customer or client.

2. Prospecting for new business helps to sharpen your sales skills

According to Eric Lofholm, selling is a learned skill. To improve at any skill, you need to practice. And that means you need to do it over and over. Sales is no different. To improve your results, you need to prospect on a regular basis. If the idea of picking up the phone to make a cold call makes you nervous, then you know you have some work to do.

You don’t have to make cold calls to prospect for new business. You can call current customers and ask for referrals. You can follow up on leads received through your website. You can follow up with new contacts you meet at events or that you connected with online. Prospecting is an essential skill and one you to take time to develop.

3. Prospecting for new business opens the door to referrals

While cold calls are often challenging even for sales veterans, referrals are often easy to follow up with. There are several ways you can receive referrals. You can receive a personal introduction from the person making the referral. Or, you can receive the name and phone number of the person to contact. Or, someone might provide your contact information to the person being referred.

Whenever possible, ask for a personal introduction. This helps to build trust and rapport with the prospect. But, if that’s not possible, ask for the referral's name, phone number and other details and call them. Referrals don’t just happen. You usually need to ask for them.

4. Prospecting for new business provides an opportunity to craft and test new sales scripts

There is nothing more powerful than a good idea whose time has come. And sales scripts are a good idea for anyone who wants to increase their sales results. As you prospect for new business, you will have an opportunity to try out new sales scripts. Results take as long as they take. But, you can increase your results with a good sales script.

5. Prospecting for new business allows you to book more appointments and close more sales

Do you want more customers? If so, then you need to close more sales. But, how? It starts with booking more appointments. You need to actively prospect for new business. That means picking up the phone and talking to people for the purpose of scheduling appointments. Whether you meet someone in person or run an appointment over the phone, you need to deliver more sales presentations if you want to close more sales.

If you’re not getting the results you want today, then you need to take more action to prospect for new business. You need to generate more leads and book more appointments. You need to track your results and hold yourself accountable.

Strive for Success,

Rick Cooper

Sales Coach and Trainer