Sales Prospecting Guide: What It Is and 4 Tips to Close More Deals

Every closed deal starts with the same thing: a solid prospecting strategy. Prospecting helps you find and build relationships with potential customers. 

But sales prospecting takes time and a lot of persistence. It’s not always easy to know which prospects are promising or how to keep the conversation moving forward.

We’ll walk you through proven techniques to improve your prospecting approach and help you close more deals. Plus, learn how Otter’s Sales Agent and SDR Agent streamline the process.

What is sales prospecting?

Sales prospecting, also known as customer prospecting, is the process of identifying, contacting, and qualifying potential customers. It’s a crucial step in building a healthy sales pipeline because without prospects, there are no deals to close. Successful prospecting helps reps focus on qualified leads and optimize their approaches for better outcomes.

Here are the 5 Ps of prospecting to know:

1. Purpose: Know why you’re reaching out and what you want to achieve.
2. Preparation: Research the prospect and their business before making contact.
3. Personalization: Tailor your message to resonate with their specific needs.
4. Perseverance: Follow up consistently and don’t be discouraged by silence.
5. Practice: Refine your pitch over time to improve results.

This process can be time-consuming and stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. Otter’s AI sales tools transform prospecting by making it faster, smarter, and less manual. Otter SDR Agent automates early-stage outreach, and Otter Sales Agent offers live coaching during conversations with prospects so reps can move deals forward more confidently. Together, these agents take the guesswork out of prospecting.

Sales prospecting versus lead generation

Sales prospecting and lead generation are both parts of a solid sales strategy, but they work differently.

Lead generation is a marketing-driven approach to attract potential customers at scale. At this stage of the sales funnel, you cast a wide net using strategies like paid ads or social media campaigns to gather contact information.

Sales prospecting typically follows lead generation. It’s a more targeted, hands-on effort where sales reps actively identify potential customers who are ready to engage. Then, the reps reach out to these prospects to steer them toward making a purchase.

A company might generate leads by offering a free e-book. Once leads download the content, a sales rep can begin prospecting — researching which leads are a good fit, crafting personalized outreach, and starting conversations that turn interest into opportunity.

Types of sales prospecting

There are two main types of sales prospecting: inbound and outbound.

In inbound prospecting, you attract potential customers through marketing efforts that encourage them to reach out to you. This could include content marketing, social media engagement, SEO, and other strategies that drive leads to your website or business. Inbound leads are often more qualified, as they’ve already expressed interest in your product or service.

Outbound prospecting is a more proactive approach where sales reps seek out potential customers. They might start a conversation with a prospect through LinkedIn or another platform, aiming to generate interest in their solution.

Other types of sales prospecting

Beyond inbound and outbound, prospecting strategies can be broken down into other categories. Here are a few of the most common prospecting approaches to add to your sales playbook:

• Cold calling: Phoning prospects who haven’t shown interest yet
• Cold emailing: Sending unsolicited, personalized emails to potential leads
• Event-based prospecting: Leveraging events like trade shows, webinars, and conferences to connect with prospects
• Social selling: Building relationships on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram
• Networking: Engaging with people at industry meetups, conferences, or online forums

Whatever sales methodology you choose, your goal is to identify and connect with potential customers. The key is to engage with prospects in a way that builds trust, demonstrates value, and moves prospects through the sales funnel.

The 3 best sales prospecting tools

Leveraging technology can make any prospecting approach more effective. Here are three sales prospecting tools worth trying:

1. Otter

Otter simplifies prospecting with two helpful AI tools: Otter SDR Agent and Otter Sales Agent.

Otter SDR Agent helps you capture prospects’ interest as soon as they visit your website. The agent conducts live sales calls and product demos autonomously — which means you can engage leads immediately without human intervention. This is a huge advantage because it makes sure no prospect slips through the cracks. The SDR Agent’s instant responses increase the chances of conversion and accelerate the sales process.

With Otter Sales Agent, sales reps get real-time guidance during customer calls. For example, Otter can give advice on handling objections effectively. This empowers agents to keep the conversation on track and reduce friction. Otter Sales Agent also automatically generates a detailed sales calls report, giving you the insights you need to move deals forward.

2. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is another powerful prospecting tool for building relationships. Sales reps can use LinkedIn to connect with key decision-makers by sharing valuable content, which builds trust within their network. The platform also offers advanced search features that identify and target ideal prospects. Once you find them, use LinkedIn’s messaging feature for direct, personalized outreach that sparks a productive sales conversation.

3. CRM

A customer relationship management system, or CRM, is essential for managing and nurturing prospects through the sales funnel. CRMs track interactions, schedule follow-ups, and provide insights into the sales process. This keeps sales teams organized and efficient as they prioritize and build relationships with leads.

How to prospect effectively in 5 steps

Now that you know the tools that can streamline prospecting, let’s take a closer look at the process. Here’s how to prospect for sales step by step:

1. Define your ideal customer profile

Before you start reaching out to leads, clearly define the ideal customer. Narrowing your focus helps you target the most promising prospects, preventing you from wasting resources on leads that may not pan out.

2. Research your prospects

Understanding your prospects’ pain points and needs helps you forge meaningful connections with them. Use tools like Otter’s Sales Agent to optimize your research. 

Otter Sales Agent gathers insights from your CRM and past sales calls, then summarizes this information in a handy pre-call meeting brief. With this kind of intel at your fingertips, you can walk into every conversation with a clear plan and a better chance of closing the deal.

3. Craft a compelling message

When you reach out to prospects, you need to communicate your offering’s value in a way that speaks to their specific needs. Make sure your pitch is personalized and clear. 

Otter Sales Agent can help with that. It offers a list of talking points to cover during the conversation and keeps you on track during calls with smart, real-time prompts designed to resonate.

4. Reach out

Once you’ve refined your pitch, it’s time to engage the prospect. Reach out to them through the channel of your choice — by phone, email, or even LinkedIn. Or, let Otter SDR Agent engage prospects for you as soon as they visit your website.

5. Follow up consistently

Remember the fifth P of prospecting — persistence is key to making sales. Regular follow-ups keep your business top of mind, increasing your chance of closing deals. Otter Sales Agent makes this part of the process easy by automatically drafting follow-up emails based on your conversation. It also extracts and syncs insights directly to your CRM, helping you optimize a follow-up strategy.

4 sales prospecting tips

To sharpen your prospecting game even more, follow these four practical tips:

1. Use Otter Sales Agent and Otter SDR Agent

AI is the future of sales, so let it do the heavy lifting when it comes to prospecting. Otter’s Sales Agent and SDR Agent help you move faster, reach more prospects, and close deals with greater consistency. This boosts overall sales performance without adding more hours to your day.

2. Know when to stop

Spending too much time chasing dead ends takes energy away from better opportunities. Sometimes a prospect just isn’t a good fit, and that’s okay. Set clear stopping criteria so you know when to move on, and trust your tools and instincts to guide you toward more qualified prospects.

3. Constantly update your ideal customer profile

Your ideal customer profile (ICP) isn’t static. Market conditions, product updates, and feedback from your team can all shift who your best-fit customers really are. Regularly revisit and refine your ICP to always target the right people with the right message.

4. Segment your prospects

Every prospect is a little bit different, and your messaging should reflect that. Segmenting prospects — by industry, company size, buying stage, or behavior — helps you tailor outreach more effectively. This results in more relevant conversations, stronger engagement, and higher conversion rates.

Level up your sales prospecting with Otter SDR Agent

Many sales agents lose valuable prospecting opportunities because they simply can’t get to them all in time. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Boost your sales prospecting strategy with Otter AI.

Otter SDR Agent runs live demos, qualifies prospects in real time, and keeps your sales pipeline moving — no humans required. It’s built to take the grunt work out of early-stage prospecting by engaging leads the second they show interest. This translates to accelerated conversions and better overall sales performance, without any extra manual labor.

Sell faster. Sell smarter. Try Otter today.