Marketing chapter 6a prospecting the lifeblood of selling

6

Chapter

Prospecting—The Lifeblood
of Selling

McGraw-Hill/Irwin
ABC’s of Selling, 10/e

Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Main Topics
 The Tree of Business Life: Prospecting
 The Sales Process Has 10 Steps
 Steps Before the Sales Presentation
 Prospecting—The Lifeblood of Selling
 The Leaking Bucket Customer Concept
 Where to Find Prospects
 Planning a Prospecting Strategy
 Prospecting Methods
 Prospecting Guidelines

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Main Topics, cont...

 The Referral Cycle
 Call Reluctance Costs You Money!

 Obtaining the Sales Interview
 Wireless E-mail Helps You Keep in Contact and Prospect

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The Tree of Business Life: Prospecting

Guided by The Golden Rule, remember:

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 People buy from those they know and trust
 Prospecting is not easy unless you focus on helping,
not selling

 People who trust you give referrals
 Referrals take the burden of prospecting off the
salesperson

True

 Referrals are earned through integrity, trust, and
character

Relationships

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Exhibit 6-1: The Selling Process Has
10 Important Steps
1. Prospecting

The sales process is a sequential
series of actions

2. Preapproach

3. Approach

4. Presentation

5. Trial close

6. Determine objections

7. Meet objections

8. Trial close

9. Close

10. Follow up
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Some Prospect, Some Do Not
 Many salespeople prospect, both those selling business-to-business and those selling
to consumers

 Examples are:
 Financial services as life insurance
 Real estate

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Some Prospect, Some Do Not, cont…
 Many organizations do not prospect
 Examples are large consumer goods firms, such as General Mills* and Colgate*

* products and associated images used for illustrative purposes only
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Compensation for the Salesperson that Prospects is Sometimes:
 Based upon 100% commission – if you do not sell, you do not earn

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Compensation for the Salesperson that Does Not Prospect is
Often:
 Based upon mostly salary with a small bonus and expenses such as car and office
supplies paid

 If you do not sell you still get paid, but not for very long

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The Prospector Has the Most Challenging Sales Career
 This is the “order getter” who:
 Finds a lead
 Converts the lead into a prospect
 Sells one day, and
 Sells in the future too

 WOW! That is a challenge

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Steps Before the Sales Presentation
 Prospecting > Appointment > Planning
 Rule of thumb
 40% preparation
 20% presentation
 40% follow-up

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Exhibit 6-2: Before the Sales Presentation

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Prospecting–The Lifeblood of Selling

 Prospecting – identifies potential customer
 Lead – name of a person or organization (also referred to as a
suspect)

 Prospect – qualified person or organization

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Prospecting — The Lifeblood of Selling

 Prospecting – identifies potential customers
 Lead – might be a prospect
 Prospect – qualified person
 Is prospect MAD? Does he or she have:
Q1. Money to buy?
Q2. Authority to buy?
Q3. Desire to buy?

…Then, prospect is Qualified

Prospecting–The Lifeblood of Selling
 Sales Prospecting Funnel
 All leads and prospects must be considered and filtered through the MAD process before they
become qualified prospects

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The Leaking Bucket Customer Concept
 All salespeople lose X amount of sales and customers per year. This is illustrated in
the Leaking Bucket Customer Concept:
 Customers come into the top and leave through a hole in the bottom

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Where to Find Prospects
 Sources may be varied or few
 Persons selling different services and goods might not use the same sources

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Planning a Prospecting Strategy
 Prospecting requires a strategy
 A skill that can be constantly improved

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Exhibit 6-4: Prospecting Methods that Work!

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Prospecting Methods
 E-prospecting on the Web
 Individuals
 Organizations

 (1)Cold Canvassing – law of averages
 (2)Endless Chain – customer referral
 Customers and customer referrals best sources of future sales

 (3)Orphaned Customers
 (4)Sales Lead Clubs

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Prospecting Methods, cont…
 Prospect Lists – trade pubs, list-selling firms
 Become an Expert – get published
 (5)Public Exhibitions and Demonstrations
 (6)Center of Influence
 Direct Mail
 (7)Telephone and Telemarketing
 Observation
 (8)Networking (center-of-influence people)

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Exhibit 6-5: The Processing System Within a Telemarketing
Center

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Exhibit 6-6: Reports From a Telemarketing Center to Other Marketing Groups Within
the Firm

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Prospecting Guidelines
 Three criteria are:

1.Customize to each prospect
2.Concentrate on high potential customers fruit
3.Call back on no-buys
 Always keep knocking on prospect’s and customer’s door to help them

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Referrals Are Used in Most Prospecting Methods
 Eight of the twelve popular prospecting methods directly ask for
referrals.

 Referrals can be directly used in:
 Cold canvassing
 Endless chain customer referrals
 Orphaned customers
 Sales lead clubs
 Public exhibitions and demonstrations
 Center of influence
 Telephone
 Networking

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