I’m sure you know by now that this is a sales-centric blog, which means that we aren’t talking about the farming that cultivates crops and providing food to people (I know I have cracked this joke earlier too). This is about Sales Farming. If you want to get a better understanding of it, check out my blog: Should I get into Hunting or Farming?
Now that’s out of the way, let’s answer a question that a lot of farmers or account managers have. Why do I need to prospect when I already have a booming set of accounts or customers who keep giving me business? There are 2 answers to that question. First answer: Because as time goes by, there’s no guarantee that the business or your customers will continue to be as it has been so far. And this is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’, so you might as well start now. Second answer: Because you are in ‘sales’, and the job of a sales professional is to ‘sell’ and not just to ‘manage’ accounts/business. If you have not heard this before in your profession, you soon will.
So, what are the ways can an account manager prospect? Frankly, this activity is not going to be drastically different from any other (hunter) salesperson’s prospecting. But keeping true to the topic, we’ll discuss the various methods with the account manager in mind. Here we go:
- Referrals: I wanted to start off with a method which probably is the biggest difference between a hunter-farmer prospecting. One thing that’s difficult to come by to a hunter is a referral client, because hunters typically deal with new clients and logos (companies). That means that these customers haven’t yet tested the product/service they have just bought, and as with any referral, it comes only after the person has successfully consumed the product/service. So for hunters, it is typically a fresh start every time. This obviously changes as the time goes by and you have repeat customers and companies that have had some experience with you or your company in the past. But flip that scenario to the context of an account manager, and you have a fairly rosy picture in front of you. In your case, you already have a set of customers who have been doing business with you for some time. So, for these customers to offer you a referral is very easy (provided you have done a good job of course!). And that is the easiest way for you to prospect, because these customers will not just build your credibility before you even reach out to your prospective clients but also give you good leads (qualified opportunities) as their referrals are generally to people, who they know have an upcoming requirement.
2. Email: The next obvious medium is to use the tool that every salesperson utilizes: Email. Email is a good way to reach out to a lot of people you want to potentially meet. The only thing to make sure is that, it doesn’t seem like a generic mail that no one wants to even open, but something that shows that you have put in some effort to personalize. One good way to get a lot of responses is to refer to an activity that will resonate with them (get a part of it on the subject line too). This information can be sought out from your connects within the company. A name that is common to both of you is a good way to break the ice as well.
3. Phone: Let me break this to you if you don’t already know it: A lot of account managers are not very good with the phone. The reason for that is very simple. The phone call probably has the best (or maybe worst in this case) chance of you getting rejected. While outbound sales reps face it quite often, that’s the not the case with account managers, who normally play in safe territories by talking to the people who work and like them. If you are one of ‘those’ account managers, read this: There are a lot of sales people who swear by the phone. If you are still worried to pick up the phone, remember that the case for making a phone call is not very different than emails. In most cases, you’ll get the voice mail. So it’s like an email but more personal. Though that also means that if you want a good chance to get your phone call returned, make a really compelling reason for them to get you to call/text/email back. That’s right, leave an option of texting or emailing you back too. It just makes extra sense to use different touch-points to reach out to your prospects as that has the biggest recall factor. That’s the reason emails/phones should be used in congruence. To make it even better, add the next reach-out method too.
4. Networking: A decade back, and I would have suggested that you visit networking events or shows relevant to your industry. While these methods still do work, but they tend to have a low success rate. The reason is that, these networking events typically have a lot of meetings and business card exchanges, hence the relationships are so superficial that they quite often fizzle out after the first meeting. The good part is that if these interactions are followed by a hit on social media or another physical meeting, the chances go way up.
CONCLUSION:
There are plenty of other ways that you can make it to a meeting with a new prospect, but the ones listed above have been tested over and over since selling was a thing, so use them effectively and see the difference.
So, now you have the methods to bring in new leads, but how much prospecting is really necessary, considering the fact that you have existing customers to deal with? A lot of sales experts have their own theories. But in reality, it really depends on what you are dealing with. If you have a lot of leads coming in already and are already pressed for time in pursuing them, the amount you need to prospect is quite low compared to when you have a very thin pipeline. What’s important though, is to keep a regimen where you have some prospecting being done on a regular basis.
Get on with the above steps, and see how slowly but surely you have the opportunity to broaden your sales beyond the current business you manage.
