Am I maximizing my prospecting effort?

December 3, 2009

Our labs team was recently focused on one of our sales and marketing support initiatives with a portfolio company.

In a recent meeting with one of our sales teams, I questioned the team on whether or not they were maximizing their prospecting effort. The team consensus was, “yes, we are making 60 cold calls a day….that’s a big effort”. I agreed that they were very focused.

I then asked again, “Are you maximizing your prospecting effort?” The team was confused so I explained what I meant with something I call the Pillars of Prospecting.

The 5 PILLARS of Prospecting

Primary: The person on the phone.

Internally: Is there any other areas within the organization that would be interested in these solutions? Other areas like XXXX teams, other locations or sites?

External: Obviously my job is to get people like you on the phone and see if we provide value. Can you think of any friends or former colleagues (at a former workplace) that may have an interest in this type of Solution?

Partner: We have a number of strategic partners in the industry and I may be able to help you out with some other initiatives you have. What are some of the other projects you have going on?

Other: Do you participate in any sort of user community, or user groups that may be interested about hearing about exciting solutions like XXXXX?

Maximize every live body on the phone!!!

SVP Marketing & Sales

<strong>Brian Zimmerman</strong> was a Partner at OpenView from 2006 until 2014. While at OpenView he worked with our portfolio executive teams to deliver the highest impact value-add consulting services, primarily focused on go-to-market strategies. Brian is currently the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at <a href="http://www.5nine.com/">5Nine Software</a>.