Prospecting plan
Hold a rhythm rather than a sprint.
Prospecting in bursts creates tunnels: you fill up, you deliver, you stop, and three months later you are back at zero.
In short
One hour of prospecting a day, actually held, produces more than three full days once a quarter. The reason is mechanical: prospecting in bursts creates a lag between effort and result, and therefore cash troughs that return every three to six months. A regular rhythm smooths that curve.
The sawtooth cycle
The pattern is always the same. The pipeline empties, you prospect hard for two weeks, the first results arrive one to two months later, you switch to delivery, prospecting stops. Three months pass, the pipeline empties again, and round it goes.
The problem is not the intensity of the effort but its lag. What you prospect today signs in one to six months depending on your trade. Stopping because you are busy is deciding to have a trough in a quarter's time, at the exact moment you can no longer do anything about it.
What makes a slot survivable
Three conditions, and they matter more than willpower. The slot is in the diary like a client meeting, not as an intention. The list is prepared the evening before, because looking for who to call is exactly what makes people give up. And during the slot, the inbox stays closed.
Pick the time based on who you are calling, not on your own comfort. A tradesperson answers early or late, a professional practice mid-morning, an owner-manager often before nine.
Shrink rather than skip
A busy week will happen. The right response is not to skip the slot but to shorten it: fifteen minutes and five calls is worth infinitely more than zero, because it preserves the habit.
A habit broken once is recoverable. Broken for three weeks it is dead, and you will have to rebuild it from scratch. That is the only reason regularity matters more than volume.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum per day?
Thirty minutes daily is enough to maintain a flow for a small business. Below that you are mostly maintaining the habit, which is still useful but will not fill a pipeline.
One long session a week instead?
For calls, a long session beats scattering: preparation is shared and the rhythm sets in. For follow-ups, daily frequency wins, because a follow-up has a date.
How do you keep it up when you do everything yourself?
By treating the slot as a client order. Nobody moves a delivery because they are busy, and prospecting is the delivery of next quarter's revenue.
Keep track of every follow-up
Lea CRM keeps your contacts, deals and reminders in one place, and shows you every morning what needs doing today.