Your office phone isn’t ringing as much as it used to, but that doesn’t mean that your company needs to start closing its doors. You (or your salespeople) just need to get back to prospecting and lead generation.

Getting your business and services out there to the public is more important now than ever. Thanks to the recession, people are more careful about where and when they spend their money. Waiting for your target customers to turn themselves into leads is a noble effort, but it’s largely a waste of your time. It’s your job to let them know what you offer, because they’ll never know otherwise if they need it or not.

By prospecting for potential sales leads yourself, you have a better control of the pace of your sales process. It’s not the most enjoyable part of being in business, but it’s definitely the most crucial. There are plenty of methods you can use to help with your prospecting. You could start sending more emails, if you haven’t already. Look into joining trade shows, and even television advertising if you can afford it. If you feel like doing it the cheap and old-fashioned way, you can always grab the nearest phone book or search on Google. You can even hire professional telemarketers to do the cold-calling for you, or you might opt to go straight to a reliable telemarketing company for your telemarketing needs. All these methods have their advantages and disadvantages, but the important thing is you get your products and services noticed by the right people.