When prospecting, when is enough, enough? Do you try to contact a potential client one, three, ten or one hundred times? When do you quit?

Do you believe?

Do you really believe that your product/service is a fit or need for the potential client you are prospecting? No. I mean REALLY believe. Have you done your background research on this client? Have you studied their business to make sure that your product/service will be a good fit? This part of prospecting is a must. Not that you have to devote an inordinate amount of time to this. With the tools available today (Internet, Hoovers, etc.) it is easy to quickly gather enough information about a business and their goals and target market to determine if they are a fit for your company's products.

Once you have determined they are a fit, you should commit to not quiting until you present your product/service to the key decision makers of the organization.

Am I Stalking?

Your first five calls may seem normal. Your next group of twenty calls may be annoying. When you cross the 50 call mark, you may get a restraining order! All kidding aside. You may have to make over 100 attempts to reach that right person. Overkill? Remember, this person's business will be infinitely benefited by your product. You owe it to them to do everything you can to reach them.

*Calls-Make many of your attempts by phone. This saves time and energy. It does however present it's own set of problems.

Gate Keepers-You will no doubt run into these keepers of the DM. Don't let them discourage you. If you can't make them your ally, work around them. Call early or late in the day. Call during lunch. Chances are your important DM will be there working away during these times.

Voice mail-Leave only one, two max. Any more may irritate your prospect to the point that you will never get through that wall to sell your product. If you keep getting voice mail, hang up and call at another time.

*Drop bys-Good for local calls. Again, one or two max. After that, you may want to try community/business organization meetings (Chambers, etc.) to meet your DM, or at least someone who can take you to them.

*Correspondence-This can be tricky. In the world of junk mail and spam, it is easy for your message to go straight to the trash. You will have to have a design that will get past the mail screener or a subject line on an email that will get the prospects attention. This is tricky and we'll devote another post to this topic.

Are you getting the picture?

Let me relay a personal story. I was selling for a small publishing company that reached a large but targeted market. Through my prospecting efforts, I had uncovered a company that I knew would benefit greatly from reaching my market.

After finding out the DM's name, I called, got through to his voice mail and left him one of my full proof, guaranteed call back voice mails. To my surprise….no call back. After a couple of days, I called back. Voice mail. I tried several more times over the next several days. Always at a different point in the day. Each time, same result. Voice mail. I left one more voice telling myself "That's it. I'm calling this guy until I get him live". Little did I know what that commitment would mean. 3 months and literally hundreds of calls later, I reached my DM. I caught him after 5pm late in the week. Guess what. I closed him on that call!

Is it worth it?

Now you may be asking yourself "Was the sale worth all that time?". Sure, it wasn't a huge sale, but it brought great value to my client. And let's get real. How long does it take to dial 10 numbers and wait to hear a voice mail message? Not long. How much time do you waste each day doing things that will NEVER contribute to your total sales?

Conclusion

So when is enough, enough? You be your own judge, but in my mind you haven't done your job until you have committed reaching that potential client you know needs your product/service to help their business succeed.