Prospecting—The Lifeblood of Selling Chapter 6 McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

6-3 Chapter 6

6-4 Main Topics  The Tree of Business Life: Prospecting  The Sales Process Has 10 Steps  Steps Before the Sales Presentation  Prospecting—The Lifeblood of Selling  Where to Find Prospects  Planning a Prospecting Strategy 6 Chapter

6-5 Main Topics  Prospecting Methods  Prospecting Guidelines  The Referral Cycle  Call Reluctance Costs You Money!  Obtaining the Sales Interview  Wireless Helps You Keep in Contact and Prospect 6 Chapter

6-6 The Tree of Business Life: Prospecting The Golden Rule 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. I T C Ethical Service Builds T r u e Relationships T TT TTTT TTTT

6-7 Exhibit 6-1: The Selling Process Has 10 Important Steps 10. Follow-up 10. Follow-up 9. Close 9. Close 8. Trial close 8. Trial close 7. Meet objections 7. Meet objections 6. Determine objections 6. Determine objections 5. Trial close 5. Trial close 4. Presentation 4. Presentation 3. Approach 3. Approach 2. Pre-approach/planning 2. Pre-approach/planning 1. Prospecting 1. Prospecting The sales process is a sequential series of actions

6-8 Exhibit 6-2: Before the Sales Presentation

6-9 Steps Before the Sales Presentation  Prospecting  Appointment  Planning  Rule of thumb:  40% preparation  20% presentation  40% follow-up

6-10 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

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

6-12 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.

6-13 Some Prospect, Some Do Not  Many salespeople prospect: both those selling business-to-business and those selling to consumers.  Examples are:  Financial services, such as life insurance  Real estate

6-14 Some Prospect, Some Do Not, cont…  Many organizations do not prospect.  Examples are large consumer goods firms as General Mills* and Colgate*. * products and associated images used for illustrative purposes only

6-15 Compensation for the Salesperson that Prospects is Often:  Based upon 100% commission – if you do not sell, you do not earn.

6-16 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.

6-17 Where to Find Prospects  Sources may be varied or few.  Persons selling different services and goods might not use the same sources.

6-18 Planning a Prospecting Strategy  Prospecting requires a strategy.  It is a skill that can be constantly improved

6-19 Exhibit 6-4: Prospecting Methods that Work!

6-20 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

6-21 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 )

6-22 Exhibit 6-5: The Processing System Within a Telemarketing Center

6-23 Exhibit 6-6: Reports From a Telemarketing Center to Other Marketing Groups Within the Firm

6-24 Prospecting Guidelines  Three criteria are: 1.Customize to fit each prospect’s needs 2.Concentrate on high potential customers 3.Call back on no-buys 1.Always keep knocking on prospects’ and customers’ doors to help them.

6-25 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

6-26 The Prospect Pool  Prospect Pool – group of names gathered from various sources

6-27 Exhibit 6-7: Components of the Prospect Pool

6-28 The Prospect Pool  Leads – know very little or nothing about  Referrals – learned from referrer  Orphans – company records  Your customers – most important prospects

6-29 The Referral Cycle  Provides guidelines for when a salesperson should ask for referrals  Obtaining referrals is a continuous process without beginning or end.  The parallel referral sale:  Sell the product to person  Obtain prospect name(s) from person

6-30 Exhibit 6-8: The Referral Cycle: When to Ask for Referrals

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

6-32 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.

6-33 Treat the Referral Like a Customer  Once you have sold the referral, and gotten more referrals, ask this 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!

6-34 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.  About 40% suffer at some point

6-35 Call Reluctance: How to Conquer the Fear

6-36 Obtaining the Sales Interview  The key factor in selling process is obtaining a sales interview.  Appointment making:  Telephone appointment  Personally making the appointment

6-37 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

6-38 Personally Making the Appointment  Believe in yourself  Develop friends in the prospect’s firm  Call at the right time on the right person  Do not waste time waiting

6-39 Wireless Helps You Keep in Contact and Prospect  No one needs constant contact with the home office, customers, and prospects more desperately than a sales representative.

6-40 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

6-41 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.

End of Chapter 6 Chapter 6 McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.