Chapter 6, Prospecting PDF

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Summary

This elaborates upon the concepts of Prospecting within sales...

Description

Chapter VI: Prospecting ❖ Prospecting ➢ Process of locating potential customers for a product or service ❖ Most important ➢ Must find new customers to replace those switching to competitors, go bankrupt, move out of territory, merge with noncustomers, or decide to do without product/service ➢ No salesperson can ignore leads, even in position requiring less emphasis on new contact

➢ Prospecting ➢ Collecting precall information

➢ Making the approach ➢ Discovering the needs ➢ Making the presentation ➢ Response to objections/questions ➢ Obtaining commitment ➢ Follow-up ❖ Characteristics of a Good Prospect ➢ Does a want or need exist? ■

Customer buy to satisfy practical needs as well as intangible needs

➢ Does the lead have the ability to pay? ■

A client is not a real prospect without resources to pay for the product

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Ability to pay includes both cash and credit

➢ Does the lead have the authority to buy? ■

Knowing who has purchasing authority saves time

➢ Can the lead be approached favorably? ■

Some prospects may not be accessible

➢ Is the Lead eligible to buy? ■

Volume

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Geographic Location

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“House accounts”

➢ Other Criteria ■

Timing of the purchase

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Long term customer potential

❖ Satisfied customers ➢ Current and previous customers are contacted for additional business and leads

➢ The most effective source for leads ➢ Keep in touch ➢ Maximize usefulness ■

Make list of potential references from most satisfied customers

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Decide how each customer can help

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Ask for names of leads and the specific type of help needed

➢ Referral events ■

Gatherings designed to allow current customers to introduce prospects to the salesperson, to generate leads

➢ Selling deeper ■

Additional sales to satisfied customers who provide leads

❖ Endless-chain method ➢ Just ask who may have a need to generate leads ❖ Networking ➢ Establishing connections to other people and then using those networks to generate leads, gather info, generate sales, and so on ■

Call at least two people per day and go to at lease one networking event every week

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Mingle at events

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Learn about prospects business and nonbusiness interest

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Thank your contacts for leads

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Follow up with your new contact on a regular basis

➢ Center of influence ■

Salesperson cultivates well known influential people in the territory who

are willing to supply lead information ■

Buying community

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May never buy

➢ Social media ■

Go to prospect’s web site

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Go to linkedin and search for the company and the person you want to call on

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Follow prospect on twitter

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Search for prospect on youtube and slideshare

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Use facebook content to your website

❖ Other Internet uses ➢ The Internet ■

Salesperson uses websites, emails, listservs, bulletin boards, forums,

➢ Ads and direct mail ■

Postcard pack, bounceback card

➢ Sows, fairs, and merch markets ■

Salespeople's use venues to generates leads

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Many trade shows, all attendees are customers

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Timely follow up of leads is critical if sales follow a show

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Almost all sales occur to resellers occur during markets

❖ Seminars and Webinars ➢ Salespeople use both for prospect to generate leads ➢ Appeal to specialized market ➢ Invite good prospects

➢ Go high-quality ➢ Be involved before, during, and after

❖ List and directories ➢ Salespeople use secondary data sources, which can be free or fee-based ➢ SICs & NAICS - North American industry Classification Systems ➢ Purchasing Lists

❖ Data Mining ➢ Consists of artificial intelligence and statistical tools, to discover insights hidden in the volume of data in their databases ❖ CRM systems ❖ Cold Calling ➢ Salesperson generating leads by calling on totally unfamiliar organizations ➢ Blitz ❖ Spotters ➢ Salesperson pays someone to lead information ➢ Also called Bird Dogs ❖ Telemarketing ➢ Systematic and continuous program of communicating with customers and prospects via telephone ➢ Outbound vs. Inbound telemarketing

❖ Sales letters ➢ Salesperson writes personal letters to potential leads ➢ Follow up with aent calls

❖ Other Sources of Leads ➢ Personal Observations ➢ Non Sales employees within salespersons firms ➢ Gov. Agencies ➢ Clubs ➢ Other Salespeople ➢ Trade Associations ➢ Volunteer activities...