Three Methods for Better Prospecting with Mario Martinez Jr., #198

The science of getting to the first “hello” has become a must-know skill for today’s modern seller. With so many marketing and sales distractions, coupled with the plethora of options the modern buyer has at their fingertips – the “spray and pray” method of prospecting is quickly becoming obsolete.

In this episode of the Modern Selling Podcast, we switch things up and share a recent conversation I had with Greg Reffner in his podcast, The Abstrakt Podcast. We dive deep into the state of prospecting to explore what’s working, what’s not, and how modern sellers can leverage innovative new techniques to reach more prospects on the platforms they use.

Make sure to download and listen to the full episode to get a front row seat to the winning prospecting strategies we use, here at Vegrenso, to get more hellos.

What’s the current state of prospecting?

In this new digital world, selling has become harder than ever before. To better understand the current challenges facing today’s sales leaders, we asked 1,295 sales professionals a simple, yet powerful question:

What is the hardest part of the sales cycle? 

Over the past 2 years that we have asked this question, the hardest part of the sales cycle has consistently been: prospecting. In fact, according to our October 2021 survey, 69% of sellers say that getting the first sales conversation is the most time-consuming part of the entire sales cycle.

This reveals that we have a major problem when it comes to sellers being able to earn the right to even get a response back from a prospect.

Join the conversation to hear what new sales enablement tools that I recommend sales leaders use to improve the prospecting of their sales teams.

Why is prospecting so hard?

With prospecting being the most challenging part of the sales cycle, the question then becomes: why is this the case?

In my 25 years in B2B sales, I’ve found that there are a few reasons why prospecting is so challenging for today’s modern seller:

1. More tech does not mean more success. Sales enablement leaders are very quick to invest in more sales tools to help increase prospecting success. However, without the right sales training and support, sales teams will still struggle to make quota. The key isn’t in getting the latest sales tool, it is in how sales leaders and sales reps are trained to use that tool effectively.
2. Prospects are increasingly more distracted. With the average person receiving 5,000 marketing messages a day, our prospects have become numb to what I refer to as “digital pollution”. From the many emails, text messages, social media DMs, and phone calls, it’s hard to stand out from the growing sales crowd that is vying for