Prospecting is the one task despised by most salespeople. In fact, it would be fair to say it would be the weakest link in the career.

Unfortunately, prospecting is the one skill most sales managers and business owners pump into their sales teams as a necessary task. No matter what great argument the boss outlines to his team, prospecting is generally hated by salespeople. They are genuinely fearful of cold calling; door knocking and they don’t much care for spending hours in the boiling sun dropping leaflets into non-inviting letterboxes.

And you know what? I hate prospecting as well. If I had to rely on getting real estate lead providers for my business by cold calling or door knocking, then I would give up and pack groceries at the local supermarket.

There must be a better way than prostituting ourselves in order to get people to buy our products or services. Most salespeople dream of the perfect customer coming through their door or website, credit card in hand and ready to buy. This is the utopia for a salesperson.

Well, what if you could make that come true? Well, there is away.

Instead of looking-for to all and sundry why not position yourself in your market place as an expert that people seek out to do business with. Rather than you chasing possibility, they come to you. You see when to do all the chasing, the prospects sales radar goes up and they become wary of you. But if you are seen as an expert, qualified prospects will come to you and buy.

Here’s how you can position yourself to attract the right prospects:

Writing

Write articles and have them published in newspapers, websites and article directories to help people find you. Once in circulation, these articles last a lifetime and will generate quality leads for you forever. Make sure your topic is well researched and provides value to the reader. You’ll have a prospect turn into a customer for life.

Public Speaking

Speak for free at your local associations in your city offering advice that can help them. If you go online or look up your local yellow pages you’ll find a list of clubs and associations who would love to have a guest speaker address their group from time to time.

Another way to lift your profile with speaking is to team up with an already established speaker and offer something that they are not covering or have expertise in. This way you’ll get great exposure to their existing clientele which could be in the thousands.

Be Better

Be better at all the things that you do. Stand out. In the case of best lead providers , do you deliver a pre-listing kit to your prospects seeking an appraisal? If you do make sure it is spectacular. Include some copies of your newsletter, throw in your testimonials (especially if you have them from famous people), add some media stories about you and finally, throw in a discount coupon on advertising, signage, etc if they proceed with you in listing their property.

Prospecting is hard work. It’s something that you’ll have to do over and over again. Positioning, on the other hand, will reap you benefits forever once the people know you as the expert and come looking for you.