Prospecting: know who you are looking for, then fish where they are

The identifying section of the Managing Your Opportunities workbook opens with a line from the writer Germany Kent, to the effect that if you do not know what you are looking for, you will never find it. Below it, the page asks participants to note two things “we need to establish”, then introduces two “rules of prospecting” and leaves space for favourite and alternative ways to prospect.

The workbook does not spell out its answers; they were given in the room. But the structure points to the two questions at the heart of all prospecting: who are we looking for, and where will we find them? This article explores both in GoCore’s own words.

Why prospecting fails

Prospecting is the work of finding potential customers and starting conversations with them. Done badly, it is exhausting and unproductive: hours of calls, emails and events that lead nowhere. The causes are usually the same:

• No clear target. Without a defined ideal customer, every contact looks equally promising, so effort is spread thinly across people who are unlikely to buy.
• Prospecting where it is convenient, not where customers are. It is tempting to do whatever is easiest (sending mass emails, attending the events everyone else attends) rather than going where the right customers actually gather.
• Inconsistency. Prospecting in bursts, usually when work dries up, produces a pipeline that swings between empty and overloaded.
• No preparation. Contacting people without knowing anything about them wastes the first impression.

The cure for the first two is clarity: a sharp picture of the customer and a deliberate choice of where to look.

Part one: who are we looking for?

The ideal customer profile

An ideal customer profile describes the kind of customer you serve best: the one who benefits most from what you offer, buys with the least friction and is most likely to stay. It is not a description of everyone who might buy, but of the customers you most want more of.

A useful profile covers several dimensions:

Situation. What kind of organisation or person are they? For a business customer: industry, size, location, stage of growth. For a consumer: life stage, circumstances, location.

Problem. What problem do they have that you solve particularly well? Be specific. “Needs better storage” is weak; “loses time every day searching for tools because the workshop has outgrown its layout” is strong.

Trigger. What usually prompts them to act? Many purchases are triggered by events: moving premises, hiring staff, a new regulation, a failed supplier, a growth spurt, a new manager. Triggers tell you when to look.

Decision-making. Who usually decides, and who influences the decision? How long does it typically take?

Fit signals. What signs indicate a good fit early on? Perhaps they already spend money on the problem, have tried to solve it themselves, or have a particular kind of equipment or process.

Poor-fit signals. Equally important: what signs indicate they are unlikely to be a good customer? Too small, wrong industry, no budget, needs something you do not do well.

Building the profile from evidence

The best ideal customer profiles are built from evidence, not imagination. If you have existing customers, start with them:

1. List your best customers: the ones who are profitable, pleasant to work with, satisfied and likely to return.
2. Look for patterns. What do they have in common? How did they find you? What problem did they come with? What triggered the purchase?
3. List your worst customers or most painful projects, and look for patterns there too.
4. Write a short profile that captures the common features of the best and excludes the features of the worst.

If you are early-stage and have few customers, the profile is a hypothesis. Write it down anyway, then test and refine it with each conversation. A wrong but explicit profile can be improved; a vague one cannot.

An example profile

Here is an illustrative profile for a small business offering preventive maintenance software and setup to manufacturers.

With a profile like this, prospecting becomes far more focused. You know whom to look for, when they are likely to be receptive and what to say that will resonate.

Personas within the profile

In business-to-business sales, the organisation is the customer, but individuals make and influence decisions. It helps to describe the main people involved, often called personas: their role, their priorities, what worries them and what they are measured on.

In the example above, the maintenance manager cares about fewer breakdowns and less firefighting; the general manager cares about output, cost and risk. A message that works for one may not work for the other. Knowing both shapes how you approach the organisation.

Part two: where will we find them?

Once you know who you are looking for, the next question is where they are. The principle is captured in a familiar saying: fish where the fish are. A skilled angler does not cast randomly. They go where the fish they want are known to gather, at the time they are likely to bite, with the right bait.

Questions that reveal where customers are

• Where did your current best customers come from? Referrals, events, searches, partners? This is the strongest evidence you have.
• Where do your ideal customers go for information? Industry associations, publications, trade shows, online communities, suppliers, advisers?
• Who else serves them? Suppliers, consultants and service providers who work with the same customers can be excellent sources of introductions.
• When do they look? If purchases follow trigger events, where are those events visible? Job advertisements, expansion announcements, planning applications and industry news can all reveal triggers.
• How do they prefer to be approached? Some customers respond to direct contact; others ignore anything that is not a referral. Respect their preferences.

Choosing a small number of channels

It is tempting to try every channel at once. The result is usually shallow effort everywhere. A better approach is to choose two or three channels that best match your ideal customers, commit to them for a sustained period, measure the results and adjust.

The next article in this series compares common prospecting methods in detail.

Size and fit: choosing what to chase

A related principle concerns which opportunities to pursue. Prospecting time is limited, and opportunities vary enormously in value and effort. Some businesses spend most of their time on many small opportunities that each require as much effort as a large one. Others chase only large opportunities and starve while waiting for them to close.

A healthy approach usually involves:

• Knowing the economics. Roughly how much effort does a typical opportunity take, and what is it worth? Opportunities that cost more to win than they return are a trap.
• A deliberate mix. A few larger opportunities that could transform the business, balanced by a steady flow of smaller ones that keep revenue moving.
• Prioritising fit over size. A smaller customer who fits perfectly is often worth more over time than a large customer who does not.

Watching for trigger events

Of all the dimensions in the profile, triggers are often the most useful in day-to-day prospecting, because they tell you when to approach someone, not just whom.

A trigger is an event that makes a problem urgent or a change possible. Common examples in business-to-business markets include:

• moving to new premises or opening a new site
• a significant hire, especially a new manager in the area you serve
• winning a large contract or entering a new market
• a regulatory change or audit
• a failure: a breakdown, a supplier problem, a publicised incident
• rapid growth that outstrips existing systems
• a funding round or major investment

Many of these are publicly visible through news, job advertisements, company announcements and industry publications. Others surface through conversations with partners and existing customers.

Approaching someone shortly after a relevant trigger changes the conversation. Instead of a generic introduction, you can say something specific: “I saw you’re opening a second site. Businesses at that stage often find that…”. The message is relevant, timely and much more likely to be welcome.

A simple habit is to keep a short list of trigger events that matter for your customers, and spend a few minutes each week scanning for them.

Testing the profile through conversations

A profile is a set of assumptions until it is tested. Every prospecting conversation is a chance to check it:

• Did this person have the problem we expected?
• Was the trigger we assumed actually what prompted their interest?
• Did the people we expected to be involved in the decision turn out to be the right ones?
• Did the fit signals predict a good opportunity?

Keeping brief notes on these questions for each new opportunity reveals, over a few months, where the profile is accurate and where it needs revising. Sometimes the revision is small: a slightly different size range or an additional trigger. Sometimes it is significant: discovering that a different type of customer values your offer far more than the one you expected. Both are valuable.

Preparing before the first contact

Knowing who and where is the foundation. The final step before reaching out is preparation, the subject of its own article. In brief, before contacting a prospect it is worth knowing:

• what they do and any recent news
• which trigger might make your offer relevant now
• what you want from the first conversation
• one or two questions you will ask

Preparation shows respect for the prospect’s time and dramatically improves the quality of first conversations.

A worked example

Consider a small team offering bookkeeping and financial reporting to trade businesses. This is an illustration.

Initially they prospect broadly: online advertising to “small businesses”, a generic newsletter and occasional networking events. Results are poor. Most enquiries come from very small sole traders who want the lowest price and leave quickly.

They then analyse their best ten customers and find a pattern. Almost all are established trade businesses with ten to forty staff, growing quickly, whose owners are overwhelmed by paperwork and want clearer financial information to make decisions. Most found the firm through their accountant or a supplier.

They rewrite their profile around this group and change where they prospect. They build relationships with three accountancy practices and two trade suppliers that serve these businesses, offering useful guidance on financial reporting for growing trade firms. They attend one regional trade association meeting each month, where they give short practical talks.

Within six months, fewer enquiries arrive, but a much higher share become long-term customers. Prospecting time falls, and revenue rises.

Measuring prospecting

Prospecting should be measured by the quality of what it produces, not just activity. Useful measures include:

• Relevant first conversations per week. Conversations with people who match the profile.
• Conversion from first conversation to qualified opportunity. A rising rate suggests better targeting.
• Source of each qualified opportunity. Which channels produce the best opportunities, not just the most?
• Time spent per qualified opportunity. Some channels are cheap per contact but expensive per real opportunity.

Common mistakes

Defining the customer by what you sell. “Anyone who needs software” is not a profile. Start from the customer’s situation and problem.

Never revising the profile. Markets and businesses change. Review the profile at least annually, and whenever patterns in wins and losses shift.

Chasing volume. A long list of contacts feels productive. A short list of the right contacts is productive.

Ignoring existing networks. Customers, suppliers, partners and advisers often know exactly the people you want to meet.

Giving up too early on a channel. Many channels, especially relationship-based ones, take months to produce results. Commit long enough to learn whether they work.

Applying this in a small business

1. Write a one-page ideal customer profile, using the dimensions above and evidence from your best customers.
2. List the places your ideal customers gather, and the people who already serve them.
3. Choose two or three channels and commit to them for at least three months.
4. Prepare before every first contact, even if only for five minutes.
5. Track where your best opportunities come from, and shift effort towards those sources.
6. Review the profile every quarter in light of what you have learned.

Bringing it together

Prospecting is not about contacting as many people as possible. It is about knowing exactly whom you are looking for, going where they are, approaching them when they are likely to be receptive and arriving prepared. Clarity at the start saves enormous effort later.

The next article compares specific prospecting methods, from referrals and networking to content and direct outreach, and how to choose between them.

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Topics and structure drawn from the Managing Your Opportunities sales workshop workbook (Charlie Pidcock); the explanations and examples are GoCore’s own. Examples are illustrations, not real cases. This article is general information, not professional advice.