1. Prospecting (identifying potential customers)

Figuring out the right people to sell to is the first step of any sales process.

It’s also a huge hurdle for most salespeople.

According to a recent Richardson report, prospecting is the number one sales challenge—grabbing the attention of potential customers is getting tougher and tougher.

Meanwhile, data from Salesforce says that the average salesperson spends up to one-third of their time researching prospects when they’re not actively selling. The thing is, this research is absolutely necessary for personalizing the sales experience and getting to know your customers.

So, how can you get around this?

Much of the struggle behind prospecting comes down to time management. In other words, you need to stick to prospecting activities that are actually useful.

So, where should you start your hunt for prospects to kick off your sales process?

The Salesforce report we mentioned earlier notes that social media, networking events, and referrals represent the top three prospecting channels today. In terms of your day-to-day sales activities, that means you might want to focus on:

Social selling, or reaching out to and researching prospects via social media channels like LinkedIn or Twitter

Following up with in-person leads, such as those from a recent trade show or conference

Asking for referrals, or reaching out to current customers to uncover new customers

In our guide to prospecting best practices, we suggest dedicating a portion of your day to identifying and reaching out to prospects. Doing so guarantees that you keep your pipeline full of leads and consistently hones your selling skills.

There are also tons of prospecting tools out there to speed up tedious tasks like finding a prospect’s email address or identifying potential candidates for cold outreach.

One of the most important tools for prospecting and your sales process is your CRM.

For example, tools like Copper can help you identify the behaviors and demographics of your current customers. If you have these data points, identifying sales targets becomes much less of a guessing game.