How to Overcome Common Barriers to Sales Prospecting

There are many barriers to prospecting, but there are a few that appear across almost all deals. If a seller can recognise these common challenges and overcome them, they will be able to prospect successfully in almost any setting.

This approach works because it allows the seller to focus on the moves that matter. As a result, the seller becomes more efficient in their pursuit.

Developing efficiency has never been more important because today’s sellers have more tools and data at their disposal than ever before. Success depends on knowing how to direct those resources, not simply having more of them.

Here, we explore the three most common challenges sellers encounter when prospecting and how they can overcome them. The idea is not to try to avoid them—in most pursuits, these barriers are unavoidable. Instead, the idea is to get better at recognising them and responding thoughtfully. Best of all, the responses we offer here are all behavioural, which means that anyone can use them right away.

01. The Customer is Hyper Aware of Being Sold To

Customers have been conditioned to ignore the noise. They encounter sales messages across all channels. Therefore, sellers struggle to even begin a conversation because often they are talking to a prospect that expects the communication to end with a sales pitch.

This is a challenge for sellers because while they might have a solution that’s relevant to the prospect, they will never be able to learn the customer details that allow them to position the product or service.

The solution is reciprocity. The idea is simple: give to get. With this approach, the seller offers something of value – market research, relevant insight, useful data - to the customer before any conversation begins. In time, the customer is likely to respond to the gesture positively. Often, the customer offers some of their time, important information about their needs, or details about the decision-making process within their organisation. All of these three insights are valuable and are rarely learned any other way.

It is important to remain authentic when seeking reciprocity. The sales professional should refrain from offering insights that only connect to the value proposition of the solution. It is more effective and sincere for a sales professional to offer information that ties directly to the nuance of the customer’s organisation. Therefore, some of the most impactful insights are independent of the product or service.

What makes this approach so effective is that it guides the customer’s first impressions. When a new and unknown sales professional offers meaningful value and requests nothing in return, the customer develops a positive association with the sales professional.

02. The Customer is Less Trusting

Trust in businesses has fallen. The most recent Edelman Trust Barometer shows that people view businesses in nearly all countries as less trustworthy than they did just a year ago. Therefore, it’s not surprising that sellers are experiencing more difficulty when trying to build trust with prospects.

Without some level of trust, the prospect will remain guarded or inaccessible. Consequently, sellers will not be able to learn the important information – pain points, goals, value drivers – that help them articulate why the solution is a fit.

Sellers can handle this challenge by openly acknowledging it. This concept is known as the theory of trust responsiveness. This theory posits that people tend to behave in a trustworthy fashion when they know that another person trusts them.

Researchers within the Department of Economics at the University of Oxford studied this phenomenon and drew an interesting conclusion. In their experiment, they learned that a person can earn the trust of another by “facilitating the transmission of credible signals of trusters’ confidence.” In other words, trust will likely strengthen when a sales professional overtly states that they know the customer’s trust is an important factor.

Sales professionals should feel safe to communicate that they understand that building the customer’s trust is important. The more the customer sees that the sales professional has their trust in mind, the more the customer will develop trust. This is why the University of Oxford researchers regularly cite the “self-fulfilling property of trust” in their analysis.

03. The Customer is Conditioned to Ignore Sales Messaging

Customers have been conditioned to ignore prospecting emails. Therefore, the seller’s challenge is to draft a message that is powerful enough to break through the customer’s filter.

Sellers must avoid the marketing speak that is common to prospecting emails. A defining characteristic of marketing speak is writing that puts the product or service above the customer. Instead, the email must speak directly to the reader. The ideas must be relevant. The communication must be succinct. Putting this approach into practice means doing three things.

First, the message must open with the most compelling idea. An idea becomes compelling when it speaks to the specifics of the reader’s world. This can be accomplished in several ways. The seller might use the first sentence to identify a problem in the customer’s setting. Doing so proves that the seller understands the prospect’s needs. Or the seller might use the first sentence to articulate an emerging trend in the customer’s environment.

Second, the writing must prioritise simplicity and originality. The seller should achieve two goals with every email: deliver an original idea in simple language. Most prospecting emails do not do this.

Therefore, committing to these two practices is a reliable way to ensure the email stands out from most others.

Third, the content must have a flow. Each sentence should push the reader into the next one. The seller can accomplish this effect in several ways. For example, a sentence may end in a question. This prompts the prospect to continue reading for the answer. Or a sentence may end with a signal that an important takeaway follows. Or the seller may choose to end a sentence with a contrary point of view. This creates anticipation as the prospect reads on to understand the seller’s justification for that point of view.

Effective prospecting means acknowledging and addressing the fact that the customer is aware that they’re often being sold to and that they’re primed to ignore the noise. Sellers must also start every outreach knowing that trust must be earned early. Finally, written communication must be succinct and put the reader first.

Improve Your Prospecting Outcomes with Sprint Prospecting Training

In our Sprint Prospecting™ programme, we teach your sales team how to apply selling sprints to better connect and engage target accounts. To learn more download this informational brochure or contact us to talk about how we can customise a training programme to improve your team's agile prospecting skills.