Chapter 7 Prospecting Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent

Prospecting The development of new customers – leads – prospects – suspects – leads – prospects – qualified leads – customers Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent

Prospecting cont. Qualifying leads – authority – need – money – authority – need Qualifying leads – other criteria – accessibility – eligibility – likelihood of purchase Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent

Obtaining leads Referrals – from network contacts – from existing customers – from network contacts – from industry associations – from friends and associates Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent

Obtaining leads cont. Referrals – previous customers – smokestacking – endless chain – previous customers – smokestacking – networking – trade directories – canvassing – promotional activities Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent

Prospecting Promotional activities – advertising – trade shows – conferences and seminars – Internet – foreign trade consulates – industry associations – government trade initiatives Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent

Prospecting cont. Developing a prospecting plan – computerised prospecting systems – prospecting plan calculations Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent

Prospecting cont. Making sales appointments – See the right person. – Choose the right time. – Develop good telephone technique – establish rapport with the front reception; project yourself into their space environment. Important: Remember to introduce who you are and which company you represent – even if they are not the person you want to speak with. – When leaving your number for call return with a receptionist or message bank, remember to speak slowly and clearly, so that the message taker can pass on the information accurately and without need to repeat. It would be a shame to lose contact as a result of a one-digit mistake. Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent

Prospecting cont. Making sales appointments – Make the right opening statement Create the interest and motivation to gain an interview. The telephone is usually not the right medium to attempt to fully describe the benefits of your product. – The call-back decision The decision to call back is a difficult one to answer for all cases. One of the more useful justifications for calling back can be a clearly answerable and intelligent question that has been integrated into the initial contact. The question needs to be meaningful enough to warrant a genuine follow-up enquiry. Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent

Prospecting cont. Overcoming the fear of prospecting Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent

Prospecting cont. Positive approach – Identify genuine feelings of reluctance Write down feelings or excuses that you might have for prospecting reluctance. – The numbers game – Understand that not all individual targets will lead to success. The idea that at least some of them will is the important concept. – Objectivity – It is easy to feel personal rejection when receiving a “No” response from your sales call. This should be rationalised as a rejection of the offer, not of you as a person. This may be for a number of reasons not related to you or your presentation. Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent

Prospecting cont. Reasons for rejection  rationalisation There are a number of reasons why a prospect might reject your sales offer. These may be revealed to you explicitly or, more commonly, masked by artificial objections. Genuine reasons include: – Company related The company you represent may not have the corporate image or industry reputation that the client seeks. They may even have an approved supplier list or supply agreement in place with another firm that would complicate trade. – Competition related The target firm may have been approached by a number of your competitors recently and the rejection is due to overkill in the industry. Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent

Prospecting cont. Reasons for rejection – rationalisation – Internally related Their company may not currently be in its purchasing phase for your product. Strong relations may already exist with their current supplier. The company cannot afford to purchase from you. The person that you spoke to was not the one with the money/authority/need for the product. Personal prejudices may prevent them from trading fairly with you. Copyright  2006 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Selling: Managing Customer Relationships 3e by Peter Rix Slides prepared by Mark Vincent