--- title: Sales Prospecting Essentials description: I often hear from sales leaders that salespeople don’t dedicate enough effort to prospecting. It can be challenging to get into prospecting mode, and even the best salespeople find prospecting the least appealing part of their sales motions. It’s hard to know where to start, and results don’t come as fast as we’d like. This […] image: https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Sales-Prospecting-Essentials.jpg --- # Sales Outcomes Open main menu Close main menu [Sales Solutions](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/tag/sales-solutions) [Sales Enablement](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/tag/sales-enablement) # Sales Prospecting Essentials [Hernan Vera](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/author/hernan-vera) [Share this blog post on Twitter](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=I+found+this+interesting+blog+post&url=https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/sales-prospecting-essentials) [Share this blog post on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/sales-prospecting-essentials) [Share this blog post on LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/sales-prospecting-essentials) ![](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Sales-Prospecting-Essentials.jpg) I often hear from sales leaders that salespeople don’t dedicate enough effort to prospecting. It can be challenging to get into prospecting mode, and even the best salespeople find prospecting the least appealing part of their sales motions. It’s hard to know where to start, and results don’t come as fast as we’d like. ## **This blog post covers five essential best practices that enable taking prospecting efforts to the next level:** ### **Sales Leader and Marketing Alignment:** The marketing team and sales leaders can shorten the line to prospecting success by assisting the sales team with the initial prospect lists. Don’t wait for the salesperson to build a prospect list from scratch. Give them something to work with, and they can refine their target prospect list faster and more effectively. With marketing’s involvement, they can target marketing campaigns to the salesperson’s prospect lists. ### **Ensure Prospect Lists Reside in the CRM: ** Prospect lists must be created and maintained within the CRM. Sales Operations needs to make lists accessible and provide the sales team the ability to track and manage the end-to-end prospecting process. ### **Start with a small Target List:** *Less is more.* 50-100 prospects are more than enough to get a salesperson. Add or update the lists monthly or quarterly, but keep the lists manageable and prioritized. Attacking thousands of prospects ensures that the salesperson will be attacking nothing. ### **Prospecting Discipline:** The ***ONLY*** way to establish prospecting discipline is to calendar the prospecting time. How much time is calendared depends on the type of sale, the sales role, and business type. I recommend at least 30 minutes of prospecting daily. At a minimum, I recommend prospecting calendar time of three times per week, for an hour or more each session. New salespeople or low-performers may spend most of their time prospecting. They still need to calendar prospecting time. ### **Sales Leader Review:** Alas, salespeople don’t always do what’s good for them. Sales leaders should conduct regular 1-on-1 prospecting reviews. It’s common for salespeople to get stuck during prospecting activities. Sales leaders can jump-start prospecting efforts by listening in on prospecting calls and reviewing prospect planning efforts. *Activity does not equal success.* If a salesperson is not finding prospecting success, the sales leader is in the best position to diagnose the current effort and recommend steps to get on track.   ### Prospecting is a crucial part of the sales process, but it doesn’t have to be daunting. By following these best practices, sales teams can take their prospecting efforts to the next level and close more deals than ever.  ## For more Insights on B2B Sales Prospecting, [Click Here to Subscribe to Two-Bullet-Tuesday](https://share.hsforms.com/1D_XWrhHpRBaRJX_K8mD94Adfv61?__hstc=27879907.daa00e50d8cf7be44da2652c216fbb08.1662739432511.1666099265577.1666127983092.26&__hssc=27879907.3.1666127983092&__hsfp=1258610108) ### Leave a Comment ## Related Articles [Sales Solutions](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/tag/sales-solutions) [Sales Enablement](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/tag/sales-enablement) ### [The 2022 Top Sales Leader Resolution](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/2022-top-sales-leader-resolution) ## **Six Essential Steps to Improve Your Sales Team Prospecting Results:** 1. 1. [**Provide Salespeople With a Survey to Self-Assess Skills**](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/sales-prospecting-essentials#ProvideSalespeopleWithConfidentialSurvey) 2. [**Meet with Your CRM Team**](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/sales-prospecting-essentials#MeetWithCRMTeam) 3. [**Facilitate a...**](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/sales-prospecting-essentials#FacilitateDiscussion) [Hernan Vera](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/author/hernan-vera) [Read More](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/2022-top-sales-leader-resolution) [2021 Top 10](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/tag/2021-top-10) [Sales Solutions](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/tag/sales-solutions) [Sales Enablement](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/tag/sales-enablement) ### [Why Salespeople Struggle With Prospecting](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/why-salespeople-struggle-with-prospecting) ## **Why do Salespeople Struggle With Prospecting?:** 1. 1. [**Over-reliance on Marketing’s Lead Generation**](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/sales-prospecting-essentials#OverRelianceOnMarketingLeadGeneration) 2. [**Lack of Alignment with Marketing**](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/sales-prospecting-essentials#LackOfAlignmentWithMarketing) 3. [**Poor Targeting**](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/sales-prospecting-essentials#PoorTargeting) 4. [**Lack of Prospecting...**](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/sales-prospecting-essentials#LackOfProspectingDiscipline) [Hernan Vera](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/author/hernan-vera) [Read More](https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/why-salespeople-struggle-with-prospecting) #### About - Menu Item One - Menu Item Two - Menu Item Three #### Services - Menu Item One - Menu Item Two - Menu Item Three #### News - Menu Item One - Menu Item Two - Menu Item Three Follow us on Facebook Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Instagram ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Hernan Vera", "url" : "https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/author/hernan-vera" }, "dateModified" : "2022-10-26T20:43:51.176Z", "datePublished" : "2022-08-01T18:13:34.000Z", "headline" : "Sales Prospecting Essentials", "image" : [ "https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Sales-Prospecting-Essentials.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www2.salesoutcomes.com/sales-outcomes-b2b-sales-marketing-insights/sales-prospecting-essentials", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" }, "name" : "Sales Outcomes" } } ```