True potential in your pipeline relies heavily on meeting with prospects. But even more important than ensuring you have a steady stream of prospects in your pipeline is making sure you’re spending your time talking to the right ones. If you’ve ever spent hour after hour or day after day having conversations with prospects only to realize none of them were qualified to begin with, you’re not alone. But no need to fret! A recent article for Databox.com compiles some best practices and helpful hints that sales professionals are using to land more meetings. Here are some of the prospecting tips discussed in the article:

• Combine phone and email outreach. Some people won’t pick up the phone, but they will respond to an email. A best practice is to send a follow-up email right after making an unanswered phone call. Receiving an email response from a prospect who never returned your phone call can serve as a qualifier for a prospect that you otherwise might have written off.
• Ask for referrals and introductions. Referrals provide some of the strongest prospects, and the only way to get a referral is to ask for it! Start by building a list of some of your happiest, most loyal customers and ask at times of peak customer satisfaction. Ollie Smithy of ExpertSure says, “[Asking for referrals] may seem like an old fashioned or simplistic strategy, but it’s one of the most effective out there.”
• Keep your messages brief and to the point. Make sure the message you’re communicating in your initial outreach is focused specifically on the prospect you’re talking to. Concisely let your prospect know you understand his/her problem and want to help.
• Run a sales prospecting campaign. This speaks to having a process when it comes to prospecting. A repeatable process that is flexible enough to allow for individualized targeting can help nurture your prospects so that they are ready to talk to you when the time is right.
• Be genuine. We’ve all heard that people buy from people they can trust. And one of the best ways to build trust is to be authentic. Don’t go into a meeting acting/sounding like a stereotypical sales person. Be conversational, be curious and listen to your prospect. “The number one way that I prospect and get meetings booked is by being authentic and engaging with potential clients on a one-on-one basis,” says 2060 Digital’s David Haar.

Incorporate some of these techniques into your prospecting efforts to book more meetings and, ultimately, land more customers!

Read all of Databox’s 19 tips for getting more meetings on your calendar.