4 steps to kick start your prospecting in 2022

2022 has officially started and I’m back in Berlin after 12 days of holiday. I completely shut down and paused my normal activities and routines, including my prospecting.

And getting back to it on Monday was challenging, to say the least. I was rusty, I didn’t really remember what I was supposed to say, and the quality of my outreach was down. But I still got 5 replies and booked one meeting.

Here are the 4 steps I took to get back to it, and you can do it too:

1. Acknowledged that I was rusty

I switched off on the 23rd of December to spend time with my family and enjoy some great food. I completely stopped posting on LinkedIn, prospecting, and taking calls. I was totally off.

So when I went back to it on Monday morning at 08:00, it was a struggle. I stopped using my prospecting muscle for a while, and I could feel it.

My prospecting videos weren’t fluid, I was stuttering when leaving voice notes, but I didn’t care. I just focused on executing, and repetition would get me back to my pre-holiday level in no time.

2. Started with follow-ups

As my last touchpoints were on the 23rd of December, I followed up with every prospect as if the cadence hadn’t been interrupted. I review my 6-step sequence structure, checked the content of each touchpoint, and followed up with the right one.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t easy. I had lost the flow of words, I kept stuttering and I had to redo my prospecting videos a few times. In total, it took me 10 minutes (it normally takes around half of it when I’m working at normal speed).

3. Found 5 new prospects

I use 3 sources to find 5 interesting prospects on LinkedIn, every day:

• Profile viewers
• My post likes/comments
• Other people’s post likes/comments

As I hadn’t posted for 12 days, I only found 2 interesting prospects from my profile viewers. I captured them into my Outbound Prospecting List (more on that next week).

I then went to the last post I did on the 23rd of December, and luckily I found 3 interesting prospects. This task took me 15 minutes, which is again longer than normal.

4. Reached out to them

Finally, I quickly reviewed my prospecting scripts and engaged with these 5 news prospects.

It wasn’t nice to watch. It took me longer than before, I was confused and it felt like going back to the gym after a 2-week spring break (you know when everything cracks in your body…).

But after 4 days, I was back to my cruising altitude. This morning I started with my prospecting block and I was done in 20 minutes.

You can do it too. Your performance in Q1 will be determined by the pipeline you build in the next 3 – 4 weeks, so don’t spend too much time planning.

Start executing today.

And if you’re interested in building your prospecting routine for 2022, grab the New Outreach System for €59 instead of €79. Use the code “thursday20” on checkout.