Build a sales prospect database

- It doesn't matter how great your product or service is if you're presenting to the wrong audience. You could also be making it harder on yourself if you're not focused on your best audience. Relationship centric sellers know who's the best fit for their product and service, beyond just the basic metrics. They know narrowing your focus will help you to be more successful. Think about it this way. Say, I opened up a burger joint and I made the greatest burgers on earth. I'm talking Michelin five star gourmet chef approved. If I sold hamburgers to vegans, occasional burger eaters or burger enthusiasts, who do you think I'd have more success with? Of course, the enthusiast, right? That's a no-brainer. That's what we do in relationship selling. We build databases full of enthusiasts. These are prospects you have the highest likelihood of being able to serve. Okay, so let's talk about how to do it. The easiest way to build a database of success is to start with reverse engineering, your sales process. Start by looking at your existing database of customers. Who are the customers you've had the greatest success with? I'm talking about those customers you were able to not get out the park with. I'm talking about your elite customers, the top 10 in terms of successful outcomes. These are customers you provided the greatest business value to, which result in the highest levels of transformation and impact. If you're new to your sales organization, reach out to your leaders to find out who these customers are. Once you've identified those top customers, it's time to start analyzing them. Here's some basic information you should start compiling about them. Remember, we're trying to build relationships. You need to look at the individual, not just the company. Look at things like the industry, job title and job function, corporate hierarchy, the geography of the region. You want to look at the size of the company. You want to look at the cultural background of the company. You want to look at the age of those individuals, their hobbies and interests. That's a great way to find alignment. The working style. What sort of worker are they? Think about personality, and lastly, think about education. Right now, you're probably saying yourself, right now I don't want to exclude anyone that could potentially buy from me. I want to be clear. This process isn't about exclusion. It's about intention. It's about bringing focus to your efforts. If you choose to do business with someone who doesn't fit the model, you'll do it with eyes wide open and aware of the potential negative ramifications. Conversely, you'll be able to identify and put more effort into opportunities and prospects that you're the best fit for. This demographic information is to help inform you. It's not about excluding anyone. It's about being intentional about prospecting people you have the best alignment with and thereby the most success. When you are more intentional about how you build your database with a focus on great outcomes, you'll have higher closing percentages and less pushback during the prospecting and discovery phase of sales. Listen guys, this is a quality over quantity approach. Take the time to find 10 people you have great alignment with, as opposed to a hundred based on simple, basic demographic information. Remember, the key to being a successful relationship centric seller lies in building relationships. Great relationships are built on common interest and mutual value. This is not just about finding people you can sell to. It's about finding the best people for you to sell to. Well, so how? Well use LinkedIn or Sales Navigator to start building your database based on traditional data like industry, company, size, geography, job title. Use as much data as you can. The more you can niche down, the better. Once you created that list, dig into the profiles. Look for increased alignment through their profile and content. What school do they go to? What are their interests? What type of content do they post or engage in? Taking the time to peel back the onion and see people beyond that title will help you uncover great alignment, which makes it easier to open a conversation and start building a business relationship. Build a quality database full of people more likely to hop in the car with you and less likely to be tire kickers or waste your time.