Getting the meeting—or even a warm reception on the phone—has everything to do with a prospect’s business situation. Taking stock of your past successes and identifying patterns of favorable conditions can be helpful in targeting outreach.

For example, recently I realized that some of my best prospects were businesses with recently replaced executives. Since I help business executive teams reach agreement on and define a strategic consensus, this made sense: new executives had work with legacy ones, harmonizing their approaches so their companies could move forward.

Since then, whenever someone mentions that a new executive has entered the picture, a flag goes up, and a new prospect moves to the front of the line.

Review the really good calls and meetings you’ve had over the last two or three months. It’s worthwhile to try and locate a pattern of business situations of these promising prospects. These might include new management, a new competitor, financial announcements, stalled projects, or a change in office location. It depends on what you are selling, but there’s a good chance that some pattern exists that can help you locate new opportunities.

This applies to current clients and customers, too. You already have them, and you probably have greater access to information about what is happening at their companies. Listening for evidence of favorable business situations can alert you to when an engagement can broaden or when the company might want more of what you are selling. It’s another reason to check in with your current contacts and ask how things are going. You never know when something mentioned in passing will turn a good customer into a great one.

Reaching out to prospects and staying in touch are the starting points of success. By looking at past successes and piecing together what your best prospects had in common, you’ll spot the best opportunities to move ahead.