Prospecting Ain’t Easy:  How to Stay Motivated

Even the best salespeople can struggle to stay motivated through the never-ending business development “chase”.

Here are some ways to keep your motivation high.

Set Small Milestones

Especially in the beginning and even more especially when selling in a longer sales cycle environment, it’s critical to set goals to hold yourself accountable and to be able to measure if you are on or off track. Some milestones include:

• New leads generated.
• 1^st Meetings Booked/Completed
• New opportunities created.
• Movement of existing opportunities through the funnel
• Total activity

Celebrate the Small Victories

Once the milestones are set, take time to celebrate and acknowledge small victories. It’s the oxygen to keep you going.

Plan Your Work; Work Your Plan

Along the lines of setting small milestones (as noted above), to achieve those goals requires execution … not just planning.  Just like any new behaviour (e.g. going to the gym), when you block out time in your calendar (ideally on recurring basis), you increase your odds of following through. 

Think: Build My Pipeline

Sometimes hitting the big “homerun” is all you need to achieve your goals but don’t rely on that. Focus on hitting “singles and doubles” and the homeruns will come.

Have a simple goal of always maintaining a funnel that has 4 times more leads in it than you need. So, if you need to close 5 sales, focus on creating and driving 20 opportunities. The rest will take care of itself.

Make it a Competition

Whether that is an internal goal of making $x in commission this year or surpassing your sales goal from last year, OR even hosting some friendly competitive banter with your colleagues, competitions are a great motivator for some.

Use your CRM

The average salesperson can have 200-300 relationships going on at the same time … albeit at various stages. Remembering what you said, who you said it to and what’s next is impossible. 

Let your CRM take that burden off your shoulders to keep you focused and motivated.

Don’t Take it Personally

Getting rejected is part of the game. It’s unreasonable to think that everyone will need what you offer, when you offered it and are willing to open up to a total stranger.

Remember that today, they don’t know you or need you … but how about tomorrow? Things change.