The History of Prospecting

What is Business Development

Prospecting...you do it every day but...

Do you know the history of prospecting?

Prospect Development is a business development specialty.

It occurs during the Activation Phase.

1. In the beginning...

Prospecting was originally conducted door-to-door (1-to-1) or in local group gatherings (1-to-Many), with direct human engagement.

2. The Industrial Age....

Transportation enabled prospectors to travel long distance for meetings.

The term “traveling salesman” created.

3. The Phone Changes Everything...

1876: Phone invented, prospecting scales massively.

Prospectors can completely avoid travel to meet prospects.

1878: First phone book published.

Outbound....Prospectors access massive volumes of prospects.

Inbound...prospects can search and call corporations about products.

1923: First known Business Developer hired by the San Francisco Stock Exchange.

4. The Information Age

1968: Internet created.

Phone book digitized; telemarketing calls become automated “Robo Calls”.

Web 1.0: The Age of Spam

1978: First prospecting email was sent by Gary Thuerk = $13M in sales!!!

1988: Oxford English Dictionary defines “spam."

Prospects protest...

1995: U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enacts the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR)

2003: CAN-SPAM Act enacted to control the delivery of unsolicited spam emails.

Web 2.0: Social Media created in 2004

Prior to the Web 2.0, salespeople were typically responsible for the Activation and Conversion phases of the customer journey.

Web 2.0 technology spawned a division of labor.

2011: Aaron Ross, a former Salesforce executive, pioneered the Business Development Representative (BDR) job description and published tactics for this dedicated prospecting role in his book, Predictable Revenue.

2024: Age of AI....the "Highly Enabled Prospector"

The Return to Step 1...

AI now hyper-enables prospectors to globally engage 1-to-1 and 1-to-Many, with direct Human Engagement.

9/8/2024: Highest paid BDR = $496,000 OTE?!!...see post in comments

2026: The first $1M OTE BDR???

Tony Gray, BDP
Author of the Business Development Body of Knowledge