Prospecting—The Lifeblood

of Selling

Chapter 6

McGraw-Hill/IrwinABC’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:

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

Referrals are earned through integrity, trust, and character

IT C

Ethi

cal Service

Builds

T r

u e

Relationships

TT T

T T T TT T T T

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

10. Follow up

9. Close

8. Trial close

7. Meet objections

6. Determine objections

5. Trial close

4. Presentation

3. Approach

2. Preapproach

1. ProspectingThe sales process is a sequential series of actions

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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

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Prospecting – identifies potential customer

Lead – name of a person or organization (also referred to as a suspect)

Prospect – qualified person or organization

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)

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

The Prospect Pool

Leads Referrals Orphans Your customers

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Exhibit 6-7: Components of the Prospect Pool

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The Prospect Pool

Leads – know very little or nothing about Referrals – learned from referrer Orphans – company records Your customers – most important prospects

The Referral Cycle

Obtaining referrals is a continuous process without beginning or end

Referral cycle – when and how to ask for referrals The parallel referral sale

Sell the product to person Obtain prospect name(s) from person

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Exhibit 6-8: The Referral Cycle: When to Ask for Referrals

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The Referral Cycle cont…

The secret is to ask correctly during referral cycle

The preapproach contact phase Mention personal contact

The presentation Build rapport (high-context cultures), explain agenda

Product delivery contact phase Service and follow-up contact phase – customer

service Ongoing opportunities to maintain contact with customer

Don’t mistreat the referral Be professional Follow through on what you have told referral

Don’t Mistreat the Referral

Mistreatment can have a ripple effect The mistreated referral tells your customer – you

may lose both! Remember to follow the Golden Rule

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Treat the Referral Like a Customer

Once you have sold the referral, and gotten more referrals, ask the new customer to contact the referring customer on her experience with the salesperson

Now you have two customers giving referrals This can create an endless chain of referrals

quickly filling your prospect pool with only customers and referrals

Now, no more cold calling

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Call Reluctance Costs You Money!

Call reluctance refers to not wanting to contact a prospect or customer

For many salespeople, owning up to call reluctance is the most difficult part of combating it

Call reluctance keeps you from: Helping others Earning what you’re worth

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Obtaining the Sales Interview

Key factor in selling process is obtaining a sales interview

The benefits of appointment making Telephone appointment Personally making the appointment

Believe in yourselfDevelop friends in the prospect’s firmCall at the right time on the right personDo not waste time waiting

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The Telephone Appointment

Plan and write down what you want to say Clearly identify yourself and your company State the purpose of your call and outline how

prospect may benefit from the interview Prepare brief sales message – stressing benefits over

features and only enough info to stimulate interest Do not take no for and answer – be persistent Ask for an interview so you can further explain

benefits Phrase your appointment request as a question

Wireless E-Mail Helps you Keep in Contact and Prospect

Wireless E-mail helps keep the sales representative mobile.

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Summary of Major Selling Issues

The sales process involves a series of actions beginning with prospecting for customers

Find prospects to contact Obtain appointments Plan the entire sales presentation

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Summary of Major Selling Issues, cont…

Popular prospecting methods Cold canvas Endless chain methods Public exhibitions and demonstrations Locating centers of influence Direct mailouts Telephone and observation

Salesperson must develop ways of getting to see the prospect

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