What is sales prospecting?
The Harp team ·
Sales prospecting is the work of finding the companies and people worth contacting, deciding who qualifies, and starting the conversation. It is the front of the pipeline: everything after depends on whether the right accounts went in.
The steps
- Define who you sell to: your ICP.
- Build a list of accounts that might fit.
- Qualify them: does each one really fit, and is now a good time?
- Find the right person at each qualified account.
- Reach out with something specific and true.
- Follow up, and stop the moment they reply.
Common mistakes
- Skipping qualification and contacting everyone on the list.
- Researching the same accounts again because nothing was saved.
- Personalization that is only a name and a company.
- Sending faster than mailboxes and LinkedIn accounts can handle.
With an AI agent
An agent can qualify a list with evidence, find the right person and write a specific first line, at a pace no person can. What it needs is somewhere to keep that work and a system that sends carefully. See How to run outbound from Claude.
Questions
What is the difference between prospecting and lead generation?
Lead generation produces names; prospecting decides which of them are worth contacting and starts the conversation.