Marketing chapter 6a prospecting the lifeblood of selling

6 Chapter Prospecting—The Lifeblood of Selling McGraw-Hill/Irwin ABC’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 6-2 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 6-3 The Tree of Business Life: Prospecting Guided by The Golden Rule, remember: T T T T T T T T Builds ce Et hi ca T rvi Se l T T  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 True  Referrals are earned through integrity, trust, and character Relationships T I C 6-4 Exhibit 6-1: The Selling Process Has 10 Important Steps Prospecting The sales process is a sequential series of actions Preapproach Approach Presentation Trial close Determine objections Meet objections Trial close Close 10 Follow up 6-5 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 6-6 Some Prospect, Some Do Not, cont…  Many organizations not prospect  Examples are large consumer goods firms, such as General Mills* and Colgate* * products and associated images used for illustrative purposes only 6-7 Compensation for the Salesperson that Prospects is Sometimes:  Based upon 100% commission – if you not sell, you not earn 6-8 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 not sell you still get paid, but not for very long 6-9 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 6-10 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 6-25 The Prospect Pool  Leads  Referrals  Orphans  Your customers 6-26 Exhibit 6-7: Components of the Prospect Pool 6-27 The Prospect Pool  Leads – know very little or nothing about  Referrals – learned from referrer  Orphans – company records  Your customers – most important prospects 6-28 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 6-29 Exhibit 6-8: The Referral Cycle: When to Ask for Referrals 6-30 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 6-32 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 6-33 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 6-34 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 yourself  Develop friends in the prospect’s firm  Call at the right time on the right person  Do not waste time waiting 6-35 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 6-36 Wireless E-Mail Helps you Keep in Contact and Prospect  Wireless E-mail helps keep the sales representative mobile 6-37 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 6-38 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 6-39 ...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... 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... follow-up 6-11 Exhibit 6-2: Before the Sales Presentation 6-12 Prospecting The Lifeblood of Selling  Prospecting – identifies potential customer  Lead – name of a person or organization (also