Ya I get it. For most sales people, cold calling sucks. Prospecting is hard. There are a million things sales people would rather do than cold call and prospect. Connecting in with existing customers, checking email, following up on product requests,  working with existing prospects etc. are all more fun than dialing for dollars. Or are they really?

You can’t get a prospect, or a customer (referrals excluded, and I know of no biz that survives on referrals alone) without prospecting. It’s how you get to do all the fun stuff.  Prospecting and cold calling is how quota is made. It’s where the customers come from.  If this is the case, the best way to get motivated to prospect and cold call is to leverage vision.  Create a vision of a pipeline so full you feel stressed trying to respond to it. Imagine having so many deals in the pipeline you have to raise your personal sales goal by 25%.  Envision the accolades from the sales manager. Picture teammates asking how you are doing so well and how you grew your pipeline so big. Imagine not being stressed, wondering how your going to hit quota. Think about how good it feels to know you’re going to make Presidents Club.  Think about all the cool, successful, beneficial things that will happen by prospecting this morning, and then again tomorrow morning, and then again the next morning.

Prospecting sits at the center of successful sales people.  Yet, far too often it’s treated like the plague. Create a vision of success instead. Remember, without prospecting there is no fun stuff.