---
title: "Prospecting: Definition and Examples"
description: "Prospecting is the part of selling where a rep finds potential buyers, checks whether they fit and starts the first conversation, usually by cold email..."
path: /glossary/prospecting
family: glossary
updated: 2026-10-17
html: /glossary/prospecting
sources:
  - "https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/prospecting"
  - "https://www.salesforce.com/sales/prospecting/"
  - "https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/41-4012.00"
facts:
  term: "Prospecting"
  also_called: "sales prospecting, B2B prospecting, outbound prospecting"
  category: "Sales"
---

# Prospecting

Prospecting is the part of selling where a rep finds potential buyers, checks whether they fit and starts the first conversation, usually by cold email, phone or LinkedIn, before any deal exists in the pipeline.

## What Is Prospecting?

**In short:** Prospecting runs in a loop.

Pick the companies that match your ideal customer profile, find the people who own the problem, research each one enough to say something relevant, then reach out and follow up until they answer or opt out. On larger teams SDRs and BDRs do most of it. On small teams founders and account executives do it themselves.

It differs from lead generation in who acts. Lead generation can be passive and run by marketing, like a gated report that collects emails. Prospecting is active and one-to-one: a salesperson decides who to contact and what to say.

## Prospecting Example

Example: an SDR selling payroll software starts with 400 US companies of 50 to 200 employees that opened a second office in the past year. The SDR narrows it to 150 with a named HR lead, writes one line per company about the new office and runs a four-step sequence of emails plus a LinkedIn connection request. Over three weeks 18 people reply and 7 book a discovery call.

## Prospecting in Practice

Ken's view: most of the result comes from the list and the reason for reaching out. A short, accurate list of people with a clear reason to talk beats a long list with a generic message. It also protects your sender reputation, because fewer emails bounce or get marked as spam.

## FAQ

### What is sales prospecting?

The work of finding potential customers and starting a first conversation with them. HubSpot calls it the process of initiating and developing new business. Salesforce describes it as the process of finding potential customers.

### What is the difference between a lead and a prospect?

Both are potential buyers, and the difference is qualification. Vendors draw the line in different places: HubSpot calls a prospect a lead that has been qualified, and Salesforce calls sales leads unqualified prospects. Both treat the lead as the earlier, less-checked stage.

### What are the main prospecting methods?

Cold email, cold calling, LinkedIn messages, referrals and events. Outbound teams often combine channels in one sequence, for example an email, a LinkedIn connection request and a call over two weeks.

### Who does prospecting?

SDRs and BDRs on teams that split the sales role, and account executives or founders on smaller teams. Field reps prospect too: O*NET lists identifying prospective customers from business directories as a task for wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives.

## Do this in Ken

### Do This in Ken

Search 250M people and 24M companies for free in Ken Search and pay 1 credit only when Ken finds a valid email. Add the list to a campaign to start the sequence.

- Link: [Do This in Ken](/features#list-building)

## Related

- [GTM Glossary](/glossary): Every GTM term, grouped by topic.
- [Lead generation](/glossary/lead-generation)
- [SDR (sales development representative)](/glossary/sdr)
- [Ideal customer profile (ICP)](/glossary/ideal-customer-profile)
- [Cold email](/glossary/cold-email)
- [Email sequence](/glossary/email-sequence)
- [Cold calling](/glossary/cold-calling)
- [Ken](/features#list-building)

## Sources

| Source | URL | Checked |
| --- | --- | --- |
| HubSpot: Sales prospecting | https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/prospecting | 2026-10-17 |
| Salesforce: How to do sales prospecting | https://www.salesforce.com/sales/prospecting/ | 2026-10-17 |
| O*NET: Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing (41-4012.00) | https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/41-4012.00 | 2026-10-17 |

## Changelog

- 2026-10-17: Page published.