PowerPoint presentation prepared by:

Prospecting and
Dr. Rajiv Mehta
Associate Professor of Marketing
Qualifying
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Newark, N.J.
 Stages In the Personal
Selling Process
The professional selling process is a continuous, interacting, and
overlapping cycle of seven stages:

1. Prospecting and qualifying prospects

2. Planning the sales call (the preapproach)
3. Approaching the prospect
4. Making the sales presentation and demonstration

5. Negotiating prospect resistance and objections

6. Confirming and closing the sale

7. Following up and servicing the account

The Personal Selling Process (PSP)
 The Importance of Prospecting
• Prospecting, the initial stage, is necessary for several
reasons: • Need to increase total sales.
• Customers switch to other suppliers.
• Customers’ businesses are taken over by another
company.
• Customers have only a one-time need for the product.
• Relationships with some customers deteriorate, and
they stop buying from you.
• Your buying contacts are promoted, demoted,
transferred, or fired, or they retire or resign.
• Customers move out of your territory.
• Customers go out of business.
• Customers die.

Royalty-Free, Photodisc/Getty Images

 Prospecting for Leads
• Two basic ways to search for leads to qualify as prospects
are:
1. Random Searching 2. Selective Searching

• Selective lead searching can also be classified as non-effort

or effort.
– Non-effort leads are leads that are supplied by the
company or from an individual’s voluntary inquiry or
response to advertising.
– An effort lead is one that is generated solely by the
salesperson.
Looking for Leads
Looking for Leads cont’d
 Random-Lead Searching

• Sometimes called "blind" searching, generates leads by

randomly calling on businesses.
• Examples of random-lead searching include:
1. Door-to-door canvassing and cold calls
– Door-to-door canvassing refers to knocking on doors in a
commercial area without an appointment to locate
prospects.
– Cold calling refers to approaching or calling a business
without an appointment for the purpose of prospecting or
selling.
 Random-Lead Searching cont’d

2. Territory blitz of organizations

– A territory blitz refers to an intensified version of door-to-
door canvassing in which several salespeople join efforts
to call on every organization in a given territory or area.

3. Advertising
– Using broadcast or print media.

4. Electronic mail and websites

– Sending emails and using websites to look for leads.
 Selective-Lead Searching:
Direct Sources
• This refers to systematic strategies to generate leads from
predetermined target markets.
• Friends, neighbors, and acquaintances
• Satisfied customers and former customers
• Junior salespeople and sales associates
• Professional sales organizations
• Mailing lists and directories
• Personal observation
• Centers of influence
• Spotters
• Endless chain
• Networking
• Internet (e-mails)
• Company records
• Newsletters
• Surveys
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
Selected Internet Sources of
Information For Prospecting
 Internet Sources For Prospecting

• Websites for list of

industries and
companies
• Social media
© Royalty-Free/CORBIS
• Others
 Selective-Lead Searching:
Indirect Sources
• General announcements or calls to potential markets, hoping that
prospects will come forward and identify themselves.
• Examples of indirect sources of selective-lead searching include:
1. Direct mail: When preparing a direct mail piece, follow these
guidelines:
• Address your letter to an individual
• Use an attractive format
• Keep it simple
• Stress benefits
• Provide proof
• Ask for action
• Follow up your mailing
• Keep records of mailing results
Royalty-Free, Photodisc/Getty Images
 Selective-Lead Searching:
Indirect Sources cont’d

1. Trade shows, fairs, and exhibits

2. Professional seminars, workshops, and videoconferences

3. Contests

4. Free gifts

5. Unsolicited inquiries

6. Telemarketing for proposals

 Marketing Information Systems

• An organization’s MIS is a systematized, continuous

process of gathering, sorting, analyzing, evaluating, and
distributing market information that can be useful in
prospecting and obtaining leads.
 Customer Relationship Management
• A business strategy designed to augment
revenues and increase profitability of companies
through better understanding of customers’
needs and behaviors

• Uses sophisticated computer systems to help

identify prospects and put customers at the
center of a company’s business activities and Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images

decision-making processes

• Brings together diverse information (compiled

from data sources within and outside the
organization) about customers, sales, and
marketing to develop a more holistic view of
each customer
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
 Customer Relationship Management
cont’d

• CRM provides precise computerized information about individual

customers to help company employees (sales, customer service, and
marketing representatives)
• Develop target marketing strategies
• Create up-selling and cross-selling
opportunities
• Use successful competitive positioning
tactics
• Assist customers in making fully satisfying
purchases that lead to long-term customer
Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images
loyalty
 Data Mining Systems

• A procedure that uses statistical software to mine

volumes of data to identify “hidden”
interrelationships among buyers and the products
they purchase, along with associated
complementary products

• Can be used to identify leads, prospects, and

buying patterns

• Used by diverse firms such as Harrah’s

Entertainment and Wal-Mart

Royalty-Free, Photodisc/Getty Images

 Sales and Marketing Executives
Marketing Library
• For prospecting or any other stage in the PSP, Sales and Marketing
Executives Marketing Library is an outstanding source of information
and help for salespeople.

• The library offers:

– More than 200,000 searchable articles on
sales and marketing
– Discussions by top marketing/sales leaders
about their latest strategies and ideas
– Access to the world’s first knowledge base in
sales and marketing.
– Company and industry profiles
– The latest compensation data for salespeople,
sales managers, and marketing managers,
Royalty-Free, Stockdisc/Getty Images plus much more
 The Prospecting Plan

• To maximize prospecting activities, salespeople must develop and

execute a comprehensive prospecting plan, which has several steps:

1. Set objectives for prospecting

2. Allocate time for prospecting
3. Become familiar with prospecting techniques
4. Choose one or more prospecting techniques
5. Systematize the prospecting plan
6. Evaluate the results (use Prospecting Methods
Evaluation Form)

Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images

Prospecting Methods
 Prospects:
The Salesperson's Pot of Gold
• Without prospects, the personal selling process can’t begin
• Prospects are essential to the continuing health of any sales
organization
• An old maxim for salespeople is “Apply your ABP’s,” i.e., Always Be
Prospecting

Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images Royalty-Free, Digital Vision/Getty Images

 Qualifying:
How a Lead Becomes a Prospect cont’d
• A lead points to a potential buyer
• Salespeople must qualify a lead in terms of 4 basic criteria that can be
remembered by the acronym NAME, as follows:
1.Need or want
2.Authority to buy
3.Money or ability to buy
4.Eligibility to buy

• Two other qualifying criteria are:

1.The accessibility of the individual
2.The potential profitability of the prospect over the long run
 Key Terms
• Personal Selling Process (PSP)
– Also known as the seven-stage process of professional personal selling,
from prospecting and qualifying prospects to following up and servicing
customers.
• Prospecting
– The process of searching for leads—people and organizations that might
need your product— and then qualifying them as prospects or potential
customers.
• Random-Lead Searching
– Generation of leads by randomly calling on organizations. Sometimes called
"blind" searching .
• Selective-Lead Searching
– Application of systematic strategies to generate leads from predetermined
target markets.
• Door-to-Door Canvassing
– Knocking on doors in a commercial area without an appointment to locate
prospects.
 Key Terms cont’d
• Cold Calling
– Approaching or calling a business without an appointment for the purpose of
prospecting or selling.
• Territory Blitz
– An intensified version of door-to-door canvassing in which several
salespeople join efforts to call on every organization in a given territory or
area.
• Spotters
– People who work in jobs where they meet many other people and who can
help salespeople obtain business leads. Also called "bird dogs."
• Endless Chain
– A classic method of prospecting in which the salesperson simply asks recent
prospects for further prospect referrals.
 Key Terms cont’d
• Networking
– Meeting others in social or business settings to talk informally, establish
rapport, and build relationships with people who can be contacted later for
referrals or as potential prospects.

• Centers of Influence
– Individuals or groups of people whose opinions, professional activities, and
lifestyles are respected among people in the salesperson's target markets.

• Marketing Information System (MIS)

– Any systematized, continuous process of gathering, sorting, analyzing,
evaluating, and distributing market information. Can be helpful to salespeople
in obtaining leads and prospects. An MIS can be particularly helpful to
salespeople in obtaining new leads and prospects.
• Customer Relationship Management
– A business strategy designed to augment revenues and increase the
profitability of companies by better understanding their customers’ needs and
buying behaviors—and, in that process, developing a stronger relationship
with their customers.
 Key Terms cont’d
• Data Mining
– A procedure that uses statistical software to mine volumes of data to identify
“hidden” interrelationships among buyers and the products they purchase,
along with associated complementary products
• Lead
– Anything—a name, address, or telephone number—that points to a potential
buyer.

• Prospect
– A lead that has been qualified as a definite potential buyer.

• NAME
– An abbreviation for the process of qualifying a lead in terms of need for the
product, authority to buy, money to buy, and overall eligibility to buy