One of the most difficult activities to consistently do encountered by many sales people is prospecting. In fact, as high as 50% of sales people do not prospect. The percentages are even higher for consultants. There is often high levels of stress and discomfort associated with reaching out to someone you don’t know, along with some questions about tactics and starting points for the process. Personally, I get a little anxious whenever I start the process.

What I do understand, as do most sales professionals, is that in order to grow the business, a healthy dose of prospecting is absolutely necessary. So, we need to overcome our individual fears and discomfort and integrate prospecting into our daily/weekly regimen of sales activities.

I read a blog post this morning from RainMaker that provides a great refresher on five important steps that can increase your success with your prospecting activities. Although not totally new, these are things that we probably already know, but fail to practice on a consistent basis. Read them carefully and try to implement them in your prospecting activities. It does get easier with practice, so don’t be discouraged in the beginning. If you have some other thoughts and tips, be sure to share them with us.

Read the full RainMaker post here.