Chapter 9

1. Chapter 9 Developing and Qualifying a Prospect Base

2. Prospecting • identifying potential customers • prospect--someone who meets the qualification criteria established by you or your company • prospect base--current and potential customers

3. Customer Attrition • The inevitable loss of customers over a period of time • The average company loses 15-20% of its customers every year

4. Reasons for Customer Attrition • The customer may have a one-time need or there is an extended period of time between purchases • The customer may move to a new location outside the salesperson’s territory • A firm may go out of business or merge with another company • A loyal buyer or purchasing agent may leave the position because of promotion, retirement, resignation or serious illness • Sales are lost to the competition

5. “Ferris Wheel” Concept • Developed by Joe Girard--once recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s greatest salesperson • Illustrates the relationship between prospecting and loss of customers due to attrition (see page 182)

6. How to Improve the Quality of Prospecting • Increase the number of people who board the Ferris wheel • Improve the quality of the prospects who board the Ferris wheel • Shorten the sales cycle by quickly determining which of the new prospects are qualified prospects (need, ability and authority)

7. Sources of Prospects • Referrals--a prospect that is recommended by a current customer or by someone who is familiar with the product • Centers of influence, friends, and family members • Directories • Trade publications

8. Sources of Prospects (con’t) • Trade shows and special events • Telemarketing and e-mail • Direct-response advertising and sales letters • Web site • Computerized database

9. Sources of Prospects (con’t) • Cold calling--group of people who may or may not be actual prospects • Networking--people meeting people and profiting from the connections • Educational seminars • Prospecting by nonsales employees

10. Qualifying the Prospect • Does the prospect have a need for my product? • Does the prospect have the authority to buy my product? • Does the prospect have the financial resources to buy my product? • Does the prospect have the willingness to buy my product?

11. Sales Data • Includes prospect’s personal information such as name, title, address, phone, e-mail, etc.

12. Sales Intelligence • Gives insights into the prospect’s marketplace, their firm, their competitors, even about the prospects themselves

13. Managing the Prospect Base • Account analysis is to estimate the sales potential for each prospect • Sales process model is the total set of prospects being pursued at any given time • A balanced funnel enables salespeople to know how many prospects and how much revenue is needed at each stage in the sales process to meet sales projections and quotas

14. Pipeline Management • The process of managing all the prospects in the salesperson’s sales funnel to ensure that sales objectives are being met • Pipeline analytics is the ability to conduct sophisticated data analysis and modeling • Pipeline dashboards are at-a-glance visualizations that define, monitor, and analyze the relationships existing in the pipeline or sales funnel