You’re booking clients through referrals. It’s working — but it also feels… fragile.
You don’t want to cold call or spam strangers. But you’re not sure what else to do. You’ve scoured the internet looking for solutions and all you can find are growth bro’s telling you that you have to:
cold call
cold email
cold DM.
In order to have control over your lead gen.
Don’t listen to them! Hit them with the Dwight “false” meme and move on.
I know the narrative is getting through, though. Conversation after conversation, I’m hearing service providers are resigned to the fact that scaling a referral based business is impossible.
But seriously.
That’s not true. At all.
The truth is that you can control and grow your revenue without ever writing a cold message.
We’ll dive deeper into how next. But for now, lets get used to this idea: the revenue roller coaster isn’t your only option.
So, what do we do to get off the ride and onto a smooth super-highway?
Prospecting
What’s prospecting again?
Prospecting: The process of identifying and engaging potential customers (prospects) in order to convert them into paying clients
Prospecting is what takes your sales process from waiting and hoping to working and producing. This is your active influence in the buyer’s journey.
But you’ve got so many other things to do! How can you prospect all these people?
This is where your prospecting system comes into play.
Think of your current system: Most sales conversations are explicit sales conversations, right? Pre-scheduled, agenda set, notes being taken? Yup. That means that you're only having sales conversations with ~40% (max) of the people you COULD be having sales conversations with.
If you were actively prospecting existing contacts (no new cold leads needed), your sales conversation numbers would skyrocket.
Seriously, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “I was just thinking about you the other day” or “this is perfect timing. We’re actually ready to move forward now” after prospecting my “not right now” buyers.
Stepping into the driver's seat with prospecting is the thing to even out that revenue roller coaster without hiring more staff or spending more hours in your office.
Keep reading for a resource to help you build your prospecting system.
Yes, a system. Like everything else in sales, you need a system, a specifically designed process that you repeat for every conversation.
Here’s how to build your prospecting system in 3 simple steps.
Step 1: Identify
Think about your CRM. How many of these folks are in there?
People who once said “we should talk”
Past discovery or proposal calls that never ended with a clear “no”
Business cards you gathered but never emailed (or put in the CRM… we’ve all done it)
These are the people you should be prospecting.
Step 2: Hone the message
Use this resource to understand your goal for reaching out to each of them and draft your outreach plan.
This sounds a lot easier than it is. Don’t hesitate to reach out for help on this. Missing the mark here puts you on the back foot for the rest of the process.
That’s where this resource comes in. It helps you:
Gather those warm contacts in one place
Clarify your goal for each
Create a simple plan to re-engage them
Step 3: Reach out consistently
2-3 emails over 5 weeks isn’t going to move the needle. You need consistent, compelling messages to book meetings consistently.
Pro-tip: Consistent follow up yields the lion’s share of sales success. Focus on nailing this step and it’ll pay off throughout your full sales process.
No business that is in control of its pipeline waits for clients to fall in its lap. So, if you're not assuming people will find you and figure out how to work with you... what's your plan to generate new opportunities?
If you’re looking for the cheat codes to do this well, at scale, and with minimal time, let’s set up some time to get your prospecting flow up and running fast. Book a time here