by Cheryl A. Clausen

You know it's something they have to do yet it just isn't something you look forward to. In reality prospecting should be you're excited about because prospects mean you're one step closer to a sale. But you don't like being told "no" and you're told "no" a lot prospecting the way you do now. You'll find it's easier if you have a system for prospecting. Even with a system you have to commit to implementing it or you're no better off. There is a way you could like prospecting.

There are two main ways to approach prospecting, face-to-face or direct response. Face-to-face prospecting involves: networking, cold calling via the telephone, cold calling via knocking on doors, and asking for referrals. When most people think about prospecting they're thinking about the face-to-face options.

And you probably have the greatest resistance to the face-to-face approaches to prospecting. The reason you have the most resistance to face-to-face prospecting is because you run the risk of being told "no", and you take that "no" personally. That happens because you don't have a way to communicate the value of what you do in terms of what the people you want to work with want. The other approach to prospecting involves direct response prospecting. In this case, you'll still get a "no" when the other party isn't ready to buy, but it won't be face-to-face and it won't feel personal and it can still be a way to make a connection that turns into a buyer later. And there are a number of things you can do to increase the likelihood of getting a "yes" response to your direct response prospecting.

To increase your prospecting success you have to have something that the people you want to work with want. One of the best ways to do this is to provide education based opportunities. Unfortunately, more people do this wrong than right.

When you think about prospecting think about giving. Even when what your prospects want doesn't directly involve you there is an opportunity for you to connect with them by helping them to get it. And when you do that you increase your value to them by serving as the connecting point between what they want and how to get it.

Prospecting is about filtering out the people who aren't right for you and identifying the people who are right for you. Unless you want to work really hard let go of that "I can help everyone mentality". T get business you have to prospect, and if you have to prospect you need to learn how to do it right, and when you do you won't hate prospecting anymore.

About the Author:

About the author: Cheryl A. Clausen can help you get where you want to be. Find out how your Sales Skills match up. Could you succeed faster if you just had more time? Improve your Time Management Skills, check this out. Downloadable ebooks.