To have a stellar sales year, you have to keep prospecting and adding to your sales pipeline – especially this spring. The most effective way to prospect and open doors is to consistently prospect every week – no excuses! – and use referrals.

In this week’s prospecting blog, we want to share with you poll survey questions that were taken at our Evolve Sales Leaders Think Tank by our attending sales leader attendees.

It provides great insight as to the sales and prospecting status of sales teams for the year in progress.

Question #1: At the end of Q1 or 3 months into 2019, what is your status on growing / increasing sales?

prospecting sales growth

Only 10% of sales teams are on a high-performance roll with 20%+ growth or more. These are companies who are trail blazers and leaving their competition in the dust. Is this your team?

31% of sales teams are strong with 10%+ sales increase in 2019. Go Teams Go!

20% of sales teams are flat with sales growth. Time to get into high sales gear!

The most revealing stat is that 38% of sales teams are having a slow start to the beginning of 2019 and are behind in sales. I hope they’re not listening to the news and economic factors. It’s time to spit the dust, raise your heads and mindsets and pick up sales momentum as you progress into the rest of the sales year.

Less than 3% are behind more than 10%. Lots of work and effort are needed to make up the rest of the sales year!

38% of sales teams are having a slow start to the beginning of 2019 and are behind in sales. I hope they’re not listening to the news and economic factors. Click To Tweet

Question #2: How much is your team focused on prospecting / attracting new clients?

prospecting new clients

Sales professionals are more reactive than proactive when it comes to prospecting efforts, with 38% admitting their prospecting efforts are hit and miss. When they do prospect, 34% prefer to call on their existing clients to grow business.

The front leaders in sales this year are the 28% of sales teams who are consistently prospecting with at least 10+ calls/emails every week. What will you do to proactively prospect every week?

Question #3: What is the most effective method for your team to prospect / attract new customers?

Prospecting new customers

Referrals are by far the number one prospecting method with over 50%, yet many sales professionals are hesitant to ask for referrals, even though it works!

Surprising, drop-ins rated at the same level as LinkedIn effectiveness at 28%. This is interesting because many buyers state they don’t have time for unscheduled meetings with sales professionals.

The least effective method was emails at 27%. Be brave and use the double whammy of a combined telephone call and email to increase your response by 50%. It does work!