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