Prospecting

Examples of Prospecting in the following topics:

• Identifying Prospects

  • Organizations must identify prospective customers and understand their needs and wants to improve the odds of making a sale.
  • Prospecting for customers is the first step in personal selling.
  • Consequently, identifying and maintaining a steady list of prospects is usually a salesperson's top priority.
  • Prospects are usually labeled as sales leads, which can eventually be converted into contacts and opportunities.
  • Salespersons conduct significant research on their target market to better market products and services to prospects.

• Preapproach

  • After the prospect has been qualified, the salesperson continues to gather information about the prospect.
  • What information will the prospect require before they will choose to buy my offering?
  • Failing to analyze a prospect is the main reason for a great deal of wasted prospecting spent on a customer who should have been promptly discarded after due research.
  • A salesman's product must be relevant to his prospect.
  • The salesman must establish on the outset whether the prospect can afford to buy.

• Handling Objections

  • The prospect may object to points made in the presentation, so the salesperson should be prepared to listen and address those concerns.
  • During the course of the sales presentation, the salesperson can expect the prospect to object to one or more of the points made.
  • Sales objections can be defined as statements or questions by the prospect which can indicate an unwillingness to buy.
  • Showing interest can also show prospects that you want to know their concerns in order to help them.
  • Any presentation of a product or service will raise objections from the prospect.

• Identifying Potential Business Customers

  • Having decided on a specific market, the salesperson should try to limit his prospecting to remain within that market.
  • Nonetheless, the closer a salesperson's prospect matches that ideal customer, the fewer sales objections will be placed in his way.
  • It therefore makes sense to ensure that his prospects at least resemble the specification as accurately as they can.
  • This means identifying the potential of a prospect at the very outset.
  • Failing to analyze a prospect is the main reason for a great deal of wasted prospecting time spent on a customer who should have been promptly discarded after due research.

• Defining Personal Selling

  • The personal selling process is a seven step approach: prospecting, pre-approach, approach, presentation, meeting objections, closing the sale, and follow-up.
  • The sales cycle, more generally speaking, turns leads into prospects, suspects into prospects and prospects into customers.
  • Prospecting is the step where salespeople determine leads or prospects.

• Generating Needs

  • Prospecting starts with defining a narrow target market, identifying the customer's wants, and then offering custom solutions.
  • Prospecting for customers is the first step to selling.
  • The entire object of any prospecting must be to find sales leads that can eventually be translated into sales turnover.
  • Effective prospecting requires a systematic methodology.
  • The essential rule is to prospect all the time, and not just when the list of potential people on whom to call runs out.

• Sales Presentation

  • A well-prepared sales presentation will engage prospects with relevant information and entice them to make a purchase commitment.
  • A method is usually selected depending on the attention span available from the prospective client.
  • Whether the objective is an immediate sale or a future sale, the chances of getting a positive response from a prospect are increased when the salesperson:

• Approach

  • How you approach a sales pitch in terms of attitude, prospect knowledge, and customized product will determine your success.
  • Yet it cannot be over-emphasized that, however good his negotiating or closing skills, he will always fail in his selling if he isn't comfortable approaching new prospects.
  • Direct selling through product demonstrations can give prospects a chance to try out the product and see if it is a fit for their company.

• Consultant

  • Consultants are problem solvers who ask questions about their prospect's business in order to meet their needs and close a sale.
  • As a sales person who solves problems, you must begin the sales process by asking questions about your prospect's business, seeking to understand the following:
  • Once you understand how your prospect's business or department operates, you can then find a way to define what you sell in financial terms.

• Closing the Sale

  • Salespeople are often taught to think of targets not as strangers, but rather as prospective customers who already want or need what is being sold.
  • Such prospects only need to be "closed. "
  • The half Nelson hold close - This technique is used to "strong arm" a prospect after he or she requests something.
  • Ben Franklin close - Similar to the Duke Of Wellington close, but the prospect lists feelings vs. thoughts.
  • The combination of personally writing the list and the psychological element of comparing feelings vs. thoughts will often help the prospect see the true value in owning the product.