This document discusses various methods for identifying qualified sales prospects, including utilizing satisfied customers for referrals, networking, identifying centers of influence, internet prospecting, trade shows, seminars, and researching public directories. It emphasizes that not all leads will qualify as prospects and outlines factors to consider like need, ability to pay, authority to buy, accessibility, and eligibility. Effective prospecting is important for sales success.

2. 
To know why prospecting important for effective
selling.

To know the characteristics of a good of qualified
prospect.

To know how can prospect be identified?

To know how can the organization’s promotional
program be used in prospecting.

To know how can an effective lead qualification and
management system aid a salesperson.

To know how can a salesperson overcome a
reluctance to prospect.

3. Prospecting, the important
process of locating potential
customers for a product or
service, is critical whether you
are new or seasoned sales
professional.

4. Prospects actually begins with locating a lead,
a person or an organization that may or may
not have what it takes to be a true prospect.
Some salespeople mistakenly consider every
lead a prospect without first taking the time
to see whether these people really provide an
opportunity to make a sale.

5.  Does the lead have want or a need that
purchase of my products or services can
satisfy?
 Does the lead have the ability to pay?
 Does the lead have the authority to buy?
 Can the lead be approach favorably?
 Is the lead eligible to buy?

9. Some leads with a need, the ability to
pay, and the authority to buy may still
not qualify as prospects because they
are not accessible to the salesperson.

10. Eligibility is an equally
important factor in finding a
genuine prospect.

11. Relevant questions to consider include,
when does the prospect’s contract with our
competitor expire? And is a purchase
decision really pending? How do we know?
Still other firms look at the long-term
potential of developing a partnership with a
lead?

12. * Prospecting sources and methods vary for
different types of selling.

13.  Satisfied customers, particularly those who are truly partners with
the seller, are the most effective sources for leads.
 To maximize the useful of satisfied customers, salespeople should
follow several logical steps:
 They should make a list of potential references (customers who
might provide leads) from among their most satisfied customers.
 They should decide what they would like each customer to do.
 Salespeople should ask the customer for the names of leads and for
the specific type of help she/he can provide.
 Salespeople sometimes use referral events gathering designed
to allow current customers to introduce prospects to the
salesperson, to generate leads.

14.  Satisfied customers not only provide leads
but also are usually prospects for additional
sales.
 Salespeople should never overlook this
profitable opportunity.
 Sometimes customers aren’t willing to offer
referrals
 Successful salespeople make sure that they
keep in touch with their satisfied customer,
to make sure they stay satisfied.

15.  Endless-chain method , sales representatives attempt to
get at least one addition lead from each person they
interview.
 Some people object to having their names used as a means
of opening the door to friends or business acquaintances.
 Referral lead, the name of a lead provided by either
customer or a prospect and it is generally considered the
most successful lead.

16.  Networking is the utilization of personal relationship by
connected and cooperating individuals for the purpose of
achieving goals.
 In selling, networking simply means establishing connections to
other people and then using those networks to generate leads,
gather information, generate sales, and so on.
 Networking crucial in many selling situations.
 Successful networkers offer a number of practical suggestions:
 Call at least two people per day and go to least one networking
event every week to increase your exposure and time with your
contacts.
 Spend most of your initial conversation with a new contact talking
about his/her business, not yours, and don’t forget to learn about
the person’s non-business interests.
 Follow up with your new contact on a regular basis with cards,
notes of congratulations about awards of promotions and articles
and informations that might help her/him.

17.  In one particularly important form of networking, the
center-influence method , the salesperson cultivates
a relationship with well-known, influential people in the
territory who are willing to supply the names of leads.
 In individual sales situations the centers of influence are
frequently people in important departments not directly
involved in the purchase decision, such as quality control,
equipment maintenance, and receiving.
 Centers of influence tend to those who enjoy being very
socially involved in their communities.
 Centers of influence may never buy.
 How do you find centers of influence?
 Try asking customers and prospects whom they consider
to be the most influential person in their industry or
association.

18.  Probably the fastest-growing method of generating
leads is through the internet.
 Successful salespeople are using Web sites, e-mail,
listservs, bulletin boards, forums, roundtables, and
newsgroups to connect to individuals and companies
that may be interested in their products/services.
 Firms use the Web to solicit leads in a number of
ways.
 Firms make sure their sites are listed on the major
and important search engines, the tools that
individuals use to locate sites.
 Banner advertising consists of ads placed at the
top, sides, or bottom of a web page, encouraging the
viewer to visit a different Web site.

19.  Firms increasingly take advantage of new
software that helps them utilize the Web more
effectively in prospecting.
 Firm also developing extranets, internet sites
that are customized for specific target markets.
 Extranets are usually used to build
relationships with current customers, but some
companies are also using these sites to
generate leads.
 Some salespeople have learned how to
successfully utilize e-mail to generate leads, a
technique called e-selling.

20.  Firms have developed sophisticated system to generate
inquiries from leads by using advertising and direct mail.
 The firm also places advertisements in trade
publications, such as Presentations.
 Digital juice can also participate in postcard pack.
Postcard pack is a group of postcards (usually between
15 and 50 different cards) that provide information from
many firms.
 Anyone who inquires about Digital Juice’s products
receives a cover letter, information about the advertised
product, and follow-up inquiry card.
 Many marketing promotions are tied to toll-free number
and the inquirer’s fax machine.

21.  Many companies display or demonstrate their
products at trade shows, conventions, fairs, and
merchandise markets. Sales representatives are
present to demonstrate products to visitors, many
whom salespeople have not called on before.
 Its salespeople report that selling year-round is
easier due to the impression the company makes on
prospects at the show.
 Trade shows are short (usually less than a week),
temporary exhibitions of products by manufacturers
and resellers.
 Even firms that do not use resellers may have
salespeople involved in trade shows. At many trade
shows all attendees are customers.

22.  Merchandise markets are places where suppliers have sales
officers and buyers from resellers visit to purchase merchandise.
 The sellers are the manufacturers or distributors, and they sell
only to resellers, not to the public.
 Sellers may lease showroom space permanently or during market
weeks.
 Sellers who lease space permanently usually bring in buyers
during off-market periods or when no markets are being held.
 Buyers visit many vendors during markets, selecting the products
they will carry for the next season. In some industries, almost all
sales to resellers occur during market.
 Successful people practice adaptive selling when interacting with
prospects who stop by their booths or markets.
 The seller provides the lead with helpful information and
gathering information that will be used later in further qualifying
the lead and preparing for a sales call.

23.  Today many firms use seminars to generate leads and to
provide information to prospective customers.
 Some keys things to keep in mind when planning a
seminar:
 Make sure your seminar appeals to specialized market
and invite good prospects, especially those prospects
who might not be willing to see you one on one.
 The subject should be something your attendees have
strong interest in, while your speaker must be considered
an authority on the topic.
 Try to go as high quality as possible (remember, you’re
building an image) and consider serving food.
 Finally, you should take an active role before, during, and
after the seminar.

24.  Individual sales representatives can develop prospect lists from
sources such as public records, telephone directories, chamber
of commerce directories, newspaper, trade publications, club
membership lists, and professional or trade membership lists.
 Secondary sources of information from public libraries also can
be useful.
 It is often useful to know the standard industrial
classification (SIC) code of for an industry when researching
for leads because many publications are indexed by SIC codes.
 Salespeople can purchase a number of prospecting directories
and lead generating publications.
.

25.  Salespeople should keep in mind that purchased lists
can have several drawbacks.
 The list may not be current.
 They may contain some inaccurate information
regardless of the guarantee of accuracy.
 People who are on list may be targeted by many firms
and thus be less open to hearing from yet another
salesperson.
 Finally, because lists are easy to obtain and use, some
salespeople tend to rely on them exclusively when other
methods of prospecting might result in better leads.
 Most lists are simply names and telephone numbers.
However, prospecting system can be much more
elaborate.
 In international selling situations, procuring list can be
much more difficult.

26. In using the cold canvass method or cold calls (by call we
usually mean a personal visit not a telemarketing call) , a
sales representative tries to generate leads for new business
by calling on totally unfamiliar organization.

27. Some salespeople use spotters, also called bird dogs. These individuals will, for a
fee provide leads for the salesperson. The sales rep sometimes pay the fee simply
for the name of the lead but more often pays only if the lead ends up buying
product or service. Spotters are usually in a position to find out when someone is
ready to make a purchase decision.

28. Telemarketing is a systematic in continuous program
of communicating with costumers and prospects via
telephone. Telemarketing is not limited to consumer
sales.

29. Many sales people find leads through personal observations. For
example, by reading trade journals carefully, salespeople can learn the
names of the most important leaders .
Non sales employees within the sales person firm can also provide
leads. Some companies strongly encourage this practice
Leads can be found in many other places as well. Salespeople for
noncompeting but related products can often provide leads as can
members of trade associations.

30. Salespeople need to develop a process for qualifying leads, often
called a lead qualification system. Many firms view prospecting as a
funneling process in. which a large number of leads are funneled into
prospects and some, finally, into costumers. To help salespeople use
their time wisely, firms will often engage in prequalification of leads
before turning them over to the field sales force. Sometimes the
prequalification process is a prequalified list.
Sales people must not only qualify leads but also carefully analyze the
relative value of each lead. This part of the process is called a lead
management system.

31. People often stereotype salespeople as bold, adventurous, and somewhat
abrasive. This view that salespeople are fearless is more fiction than fact.
Salespeople often struggle with a reluctance to prospect that persists no
matter how well they been trained and how much they believe in the
products they sell.

32. Locating prospective customers is the first step in the sales
process. New prospects are needed to replace old customers lost for a
variety of reasons and to replace contacts lost in existing customers
because of plant relocations, turnover, merger, downsizing, and other
factors.
Not all sales leads qualify as good prospect. A qualified
prospect has a need that can be satisfied by the salesperson, and is
eligible to buy.
Many methods can be used to locate prospect. The best source
is a satisfied customer. Salespeople can also use the endless-chain
method, networking , list and derectories, cold canvassing, and spotters.
Companies provide leads to salespeople through promotional activities
such as internet, inquiries from advertising and direct mail,
telemarketing, trade shows, merchandise markets and seminars.
Effective prospecting requires a strong plan that hinges on
developing a lead qualfication and management system and overcoming
reluctance to prospect.