Prospecting for Prosperity
by Ken Hall

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Face it, you cannot put off prospecting. To stay in business you have to constantly work at brining in new clients. But, rather than be dismayed and discouraged, let me tell you how to become enthusiastic, even passionate about prospecting.

First, think how prospecting helps you:

1. When you acquire new clients you feel better about yourself. New clients mean new sales; new sales lead to a more positive outlook.
2. As your client list grows you get more referrals, growing your business even faster. A growing business means you don’t have to rebate commission or sell the lowest price products to capture every sale. You can sell what you want to sell.
3. Meeting new prospects expands your viewpoint. You learn more about your market and how to be effective selling in it.

Second, think how prospecting helps your existing clients:

1. As your business builds clients feel better about working with you. Everyone wants to be associated with a winner, and the busier you are, the more professional they feel you are.
2. When you ask your clients for referrals, they appreciate that you respect their opinions enough to ask for their help in growing your business.
3. Running a growing, profitable business puts you in the position to sell your clients and prospects what the need and deserve instead of focusing on price out of fear you might lose a booking.

Third, develop a habit of starting each day by building pride in what you do and how you do it:

1. Think of your successes. Start a list of satisfied clients and what you did to satisfy them, what keeps them coming back to you. This will serve as a reminder that you do good work and people appreciate your efforts on their behalf.
   
   
2. Think of reasons prospects should want to work with you. Put these reasons on your list. This reinforces the value you add to the planning process:
   1. Your years of experience will help clients make the right decisions on where to go, what to do, and what they should see.
   2. Through you they will discover ideas they never would have come up with on their own.
   3. You can help them find the perfect vacation for their tastes and their pocketbooks.
      
      
3. List how prospects will be disadvantaged if they don’t use your services. This gives you strong reasons you can quickly voice when talking with prospects:
   1. They will spend more time planning their trip and making the bookings. Do they really have that much time to spare?
   2. They don’t know all the questions to ask when deciding on accommodations, tours and excursions, increasing the likelihood they will be disappointed by their choices.
   3. They don’t know whether or not they are getting a good deal. You know how easy it is to get out of touch with special deals if you don’t keep up with them. How can people who do it just once or twice a year have confidence they have found the best deal for them? Of course, they can’t, which is why they should come to you!

Taking the time to think about all of the above and write down the reasons prospects should come to you will boost your confidence and get you back into prospecting, which is another critical step in building your home-based agency.

Enjoy!

Ken Hall is president of www.HomeBasedPros.com, a subscription e-letter with marketing and sales tips for the home-based travel agent. For more information, go to www.HomeBasedPros.com.

(Image credit: HomeBasedPros.com)