Weak salespeople will tell you they don’t have time to prospect because they have too many other things to do. There are accounts to manage and clients to keep happy. You wouldn’t want them to lose hard-earned business would you? The CRM needs to be updated and there’s a team meeting coming up in just over an hour. The list goes on.

My first day in sales was August 12, 2004, so this past Friday marked my 18th anniversary. That sounds like a long time, except I can’t imagine doing anything else, so in that way it doesn’t feel like any time at all.

I’ve been asked a few times what I would tell a younger version of myself who is just getting into the field. So I decided to write him a letter.

Prospecting can be simple if you’ll only let it.

Ignore the distractions. Remember the fundamentals still work and have worked forever.

Prospecting is not an improvisational exercise simply repeated over and over. It’s a well-orchestrated campaign with a beginning and a logical conclusion. If you’re not approaching it this way, you’re setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment.

I spoke with a prospect this week about how his team is getting enough meetings, but they’re not leading to enough real opportunities.

“A third of the meetings we get are BS. My reps want to ensure they’re doing what they’ve been told, but many of these never even turn into second meetings.”

Can you realistically spend the majority of your time at work doing your job?

There is a lot of prep work that goes into the prospecting process. You need to know whom you’re trying to reach, how you’re going to get a hold of them, how to organize your data, and plan your approach. It’s startling to me how many companies I work with leave it up to their reps to do all this work on their own.

Today’s episode is a replay from the archives of the Deeper Thought podcast.

I sat down with Andy Racic to discuss whether or not prospecting is all about luck. Andy starts by writing about how his mom would pay him for finding four-leaf clovers the yard when he was a kid.

Front-line sales management is the most challenging job in the sales organization. It’s coming at you from all angles. You’re responsible for several reps, which means, at the very least, you’re overseeing several books of business, and you’re probably required to travel a bit. So you’ve got more responsibility with less direct control over the outcome.

Prospecting is not a one-time event. At the very least, it’s a campaign; while the very best insist it’s a lifestyle.

For a lot of sellers, the expectation is that you're supposed to pick up the phone, deliver the perfect message at the perfect time to the perfect person, and make a sale.

In Season 3 of the Rethink The Way You Sell Podcast, I’m going to help you rethink your prospecting.

I’m going to simplify the concept for you so that it’s less intimidating, and give you some specific strategies and tactics that you can put into play immediately.

I’m going to start by identifying the 8 most common reasons that trained and motivated teams aren’t creating more opportunities, and I’m going to tell you how you can fix them.

“Jeff, I love how passionate you are about this!”

It took far more restraint than I’m comfortable admitting not to punch that product manager in the neck.

My annual summer golf trip is this weekend. Right now, I’m in paradise, getting ready to tee off for the weekend's final round. As I’ve been thinking of the message I want to deliver today, I’m returning to a story from this trip in 2010.

Who doesn’t love a good inbound lead? They’re a sign that you’re doing something right. Your SEO is on point, there’s some thought leadership that sent people your way, or someone specifically passed you a referral. Hey, maybe it’s pure dumb luck! One way or another, people are coming to you. 

You’re in sales. You’re proud to represent the company you work for and the solution you sell. That’s a great place to start. 

The problem is that many sellers are so proud of what they sell, it’s all they talk about. They run around from prospect to prospect offering their solution and hoping that they called on someone with the right problem. 

This is totally backward. 

Earlier this week, I was advising a colleague to take a direct approach to his LinkedIn connections- a tactic I’m starting to use myself.

“When they accept your request, send a message back or even a video message that says, ‘I connected with you because I help companies like yours with these types of issues. I'm a good follow on this platform, I provide a lot of value for free, and I’m happy to connect in real-time to discuss your specific situation if you ever feel like that would be helpful.’”

“Wow, that seems really direct, and a bit salesy,” he said.

This is where the conversation got interesting. I said, “Compared to what?”

Well, we’re here at the end of Season 2. What have you learned, and what’s next?

Were there things you expected to hear on this season that you didn’t?

Are you surprised that there wasn’t more talk about particular selling skills?

Let me be clear, selling skills make an impact. You definitely need to know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how often it needs to be done if you want to be a top performer. The goal of this entire season was to point out that there’s a lot more that goes into next-level sales performance than knowing how to sell.

One of my favorite places in the world is a clearing in the woods at a golf resort. There’s a labyrinth laid out there intended for walking meditations and mindfulness. It’s beautiful, peaceful, and the subject of today’s episode of the Rethink The Way You Sell Podcast.

Can you ever be good enough?

It seems like every time you succeed, the counter resets to zero, and your company just asks for more.

How do you keep your swagger, or more importantly your composure, when it feels like there’ always more to do. It’s frustrating.

That’s what I’m talking about today on the Rethink The Way You Sell Podcast.

A winning mindset is about more than just staying positive. It’s about more than hope, confidence, or even determination. It’s about belief; belief you can make the sale; belief that you can make the sale again; belief that if you stumble, you’ll get back up and be even better for the next call.

On todays episode of the Rethink The Way You Sell Podcast, I’m going to talk about how top salespeople craft their mindset such that they can perform as well as possible, as often as possible.

Think about what it really means when you try to convince someone, and then tell me why we should even be using that word as professional salespeople at all anymore.

That’s what I’m talking about today on the Rethink The Way You Sell Podcast.