You know what your reps should stop doing?

All of the things that don’t work.

And nothing springs to mind faster than outdated sales prospecting methods.

The right prospecting methods are the core of any comprehensive strategy for winning new business. The wrong ones will hurt your reputation and your close rates.

So what doesn’t work? What should your reps stop doing?

These 4 things, to start.

Want to dive deeper into what does work? Read The Complete Guide to Sales Prospecting

1. Demanding Immediate Reciprocity

Understanding the psychological nuances of prospecting is key for reps. It takes a lot of development for them to understand that some of the things they’ve been told to do (even scripted to say) create an unhealthy imbalance of power.

The goal is for a contact to retain power (or feel they do) for as long as possible. Reps should be taught to take great care in their early cold or warm outreaches.

Here is an example:

“What are the top 3 issues you’re facing in your business right now?”

This may not be the right question. And it may go unanswered. Why? It’s requiring the receiver to really think, identifying three big issues in front of them. It’s like homework. The person receiving this message likely doesn’t know the rep and definitely doesn’t owe them an analysis of their business. It’s too much of a burden.

INSTEAD — If it’s an information-gathering prospecting tactic, reps need to make the prospect’s life as easy as possible. Enlisting their ideas through a one question poll or multiple choice question could work: “Which of these two industry issues are top of mind for your leadership team?” It has to be very simple and feel like it takes no time or effort at all.

2. Presuming Access

In B2B sales — which is where ASLAN focuses our time and attention — reps are looking to get in front of decision-makers. These people are busy. They are important. They are also almost always unreceptive. It’s important that reps understand that (if they don’t get it, have them read unReceptive).

Presuming reps will get access is a bad move. Acting like it’s already happened is an affront.

This is all a poor type of assertiveness and can easily be misinterpreted as arrogance.

It is so so easy for people to simply turn down meetings or switch off notifications. 

Here is an example of how reps do this wrong:

“Here are 4 times I’m available — please pick one and we’ll chat.”

Nope. Nobody wants to comb through a rep’s calendar and compare it with theirs. Especially until they have a high interest in the product. It’s presumptive and it’s going to get dismissed. Pushiness isn’t inherently wrong, but done this way, it’s a burden.

INSTEAD — Reps should look for calendar links or offer to coordinate with an assistant. Figure out the prospect’s standard operating protocol for scheduling. They can also send a calendar link, giving two weeks’ worth of options for availability. Meetings have to be granted with permission and have clearly delineated timelines and agendas. Reps must earn access, then make sure they don’t waste anyone’s time.

3. Living and Dying by Artificial Timelines

There are innumerable timelines reps may follow during prospecting. Some stipulate “contact, then wait 3 days.” Others institute due dates and deadlines that may or may not be real. These will vary based on a rep’s work: who they’re working with, what industry they’re in, what time of year it is, etc. That’s all still relevant, but there is one key point of consideration that can make timelines more precise and effective.

Reps need to stay other-centered. Even when they have that cold sweat trickle of the ticking time clock to meet quota. 

Technology can actually be their enemy here. Automated tools make it so easy to just set it and forget it, especially when it comes to follow up with cold or even warm leads. Point being: one of our own reps was recently messaged on Thanksgiving Day and then again on Sunday morning by a vendor. Not awesome.

Reps are almost always feeling pressure, but transferring that pressure in the form of artificial timelines is problematic. That pressure isn’t going to yield a return in a world of increasingly resistant prospects.

Reps who effectively tune into what a prospect wants and needs will understand when and how a decision can be made. It’s a service-mindedness and a fundamental paradigm shift that has to happen. The fear of losing deal velocity can be a false one: it’s far more important to get on the same page and honor a prospect’s timing and timelines as things progress.

Now, by no means should reps drag their feet or get passive. But there’s a healthy balance that needs to be struck between this all-important other-centeredness and maintaining momentum with efficient communication.

4. A One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Even a moderately performing rep knows to do their due diligence about an industry, a company, and an individual. This is the research phase of prospecting that supports everything else. But what most reps have yet to master is the meticulous customization needed to capture someone’s attention.

A few core ASLAN principles relate to this.

First, the reticular activating system (RAS). The RAS is like an alert mechanism in the brain. It helps people tune in or tune out to what matters. If reps don’t somehow create meaningful signals — exhibiting HIGH value and IMMEDIATE relevance to prospects — the RAS filters it out. Meaning: people don’t even notice you’re talking. Hello, teacher in Charlie Brown. Wah wah wah wah wah wah wah.

Second, reps must find out what’s on someone’s whiteboard. What are their current priorities? There are many ways to investigate this, a lot of which we’ve covered in other pieces so head to our main blog and check out loads of prospecting content. Suffice it to say here, this is an unskippable sales prospecting method that must be undertaken if reps hope to gain access.

Assuming every prospect in a demographic group needs and wants the same thing, then communicating to them that way, is immensely problematic. People get hyper-customized content all of the time. Reps have to do the work to deliver at that level.

Learn the Right Sales Prospecting Methods (the Ones That Work)

There is no one-size-fits-all for prospects, and there’s no one-size-fits-all for training your sales reps either. At ASLAN, everything we do comes custom as a standard. That’s because we understand that your company has unique goals. To meet those, you need a personalized sales training program.

We can help with that.

Browse our training program options here, and let us help you develop the sales prospecting method that’s going to get your team to the next level.