If your pipeline is thin, your problem is not closing. It is prospecting.
Prospecting is the engine of revenue. Without it, even the best presentation skills and pricing strategies will not matter. The highest performers in sales training programs understand this. They treat prospecting as a discipline, not an afterthought.
There is a simple three-part framework I use to drive consistent pipeline growth. I call it the Prospecting Trifecta. When executed daily, it creates focus, momentum, and measurable results. This approach is especially powerful in ad sales training, where structured outreach and disciplined follow-up separate top producers from everyone else.
Let’s break it down.
1. Build Focused Prospect Lists Inside Your CRM
Prospecting without a list is wandering.
The first step in the Prospecting Trifecta is creating targeted lists tied to specific initiatives. This is not a random collection of names. It is a defined project.
Examples:
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New business accounts in a specific industry
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Past advertisers who have not renewed
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Prospects for an upcoming event
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Targets for a new digital marketing solution
Each initiative gets its own list inside your CRM. If you do not have a CRM, use a structured spreadsheet. The key is clarity and segmentation.
Why does this matter?
Because focus drives activity. Activity drives conversations. Conversations drive revenue.
In serious sales training and ad sales training environments, list discipline is non-negotiable. When you attach 40 to 50 qualified prospects to a single objective, you give yourself direction. Instead of asking, “Who should I call today?” you already know.
No list. No focus. No pipeline.
2. Work the List Using the Pomodoro Technique
Once your list exists, the next step is execution. That is where the Pomodoro Technique becomes powerful.
The Pomodoro Technique was developed in the late 1980s by Francesco Cirillo, who used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer while studying. “Pomodoro” means tomato in Italian. The method is simple:
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Work in focused 25-minute intervals
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Take a 5-minute break
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Repeat
After four cycles, take a longer break.
Research in productivity and cognitive science supports the concept behind it. Most people can sustain high levels of mental focus for about 20 to 30 minutes before attention declines. Short breaks help the brain reset and improve sustained performance.
Here is how you apply it to prospecting:
For 25 minutes:
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Make calls
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Leave value-driven voicemails
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Send personalized emails
Then step away for five minutes. Stand up. Refill your coffee. Reset your brain. Do not just switch to social media or another task. Actually disengage.
Then return for another 25-minute block.
This creates controlled intensity. Instead of scattered outreach all day, you execute with purpose. In structured sales training and high-level ad sales training programs, focused activity blocks consistently outperform random multitasking.
You do not need more time. You need better focus inside the time you already have.
3. Follow a Three Business Day Cadence of Polite Persistence
The third piece of the Prospecting Trifecta is your outreach rhythm.
Polite persistence produces profit.
Here is the cadence:
Day 1
Call. Leave a voicemail that references the email you are about to send.
Send a new email with a strong subject line and clear value.
Wait three business days.
Repeat:
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New voicemail
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New email
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New subject line
Wait three business days.
Continue this pattern for five total outreach attempts. On the sixth attempt, offer an exit:
“If I am reaching the wrong person, could you point me in the right direction?”
This cadence stretches across roughly three to four weeks. It is not aggressive. It is professional. It creates familiarity without being pushy.
Many salespeople quit after one or two attempts. That is not prospecting. That is hoping.
Strong sales training emphasizes cadence because consistency builds credibility. In ad sales training, especially where decision makers are busy and distracted, multi-touch persistence is often what separates you from competitors who disappear after the first voicemail.
Email alone is easy to ignore. The phone alone is easy to miss. Together, in a disciplined pattern, they create presence.
Three Prospecting Rules to Remember
If you want to strengthen your pipeline, commit to these three prospecting habits:
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Create focused lists tied to specific initiatives.
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Execute in 25-minute Pomodoro blocks with real breaks.
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Follow a disciplined three-business-day outreach cadence.
Prospecting is not glamorous. It is structured, repetitive, and intentional. But it is also the lifeblood of revenue.
When you embrace disciplined prospecting habits instead of chasing shortcuts, your confidence increases, your conversations improve, and your results follow. That is the foundation of effective sales training and elite ad sales training.
Master the trifecta, and you will never have to worry about an empty pipeline again. Never forget, if sales were easy, everybody would be doing it! And they are not. We are the chosen few. Now, get out there and sell something and make us all proud.
Ryan Dohrn, Your sales coach