Prospecting is hard work. It's long hours spent identifying prospects, writing emails and pounding on phones; much thankless. Really, it's job title email list no wonder that about two-fifths of reps say prospecting is the hardest part of the sales process (compared to one-third who say it's closing and one-fifth who say it's is the qualification of prospects). Part of the challenge with prospecting in the pressure of the situation. In most cases, the stakes are high. Three in four companies generating less than 50 new leads per month are not meeting their job title email list revenue goals, compared to only one in 25 companies generating 101-200 new leads per month. In other words? If your prospecting isn't up to par, the chances of you hitting your sales goals are pretty slim. What is the definition of commercial prospecting? Why is sales prospecting important? Sales prospecting techniques Sales prospecting email templates What is the definition of commercial prospecting? By definition, sales prospecting is finding potential buyers or customers - also known as prospects - for your job title email list product and contacting them, with the goal of getting them into a sales funnel where they will stay until they are ready, hopefully. buy from you. That's why good prospecting is so essential: the more job title email list leads you can find whose needs and pain points are met by your product, the more likely you are to convert them into sales down the line. Prospects vs Leads It is important to note that "prospect" and "lead" are not the same thing and should not be used interchangeably. Every lead is a lead, but not all leads are leads: A lead is a potential customer who has shown interest in your product; for example, they may have signed up for your newsletter, downloaded an ebook, or read your latest blog post. But they're not necessarily right for you right now. The job title email list conversation with prospects tends to be rather one-sided: they may read your content, but don't expect them to contact you or respond to your emails. They are effectively strangers on your mailing list. A lead , on the other hand, is a lead that matches your buyer profile, has the budget, and is interested job title email list in what you have to say. Why is sales prospecting important? To understand why sales prospecting is important, you need to understand the sales process and how people make buying decisions. Joe Latchow, Lead Development Manager at Intelligence North America, shares four top reasons why you need to master sales prospecting.