NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PROSPECTING
 A salesman to begin with identifies his potential
customers. In personal selling, this is called
prospecting. A prospect is thus a potential
customer. A prospect has the need for the product,
has the purchasing power and willingness to buy
the product, and the authority to do so.
PROSPECTING
 Prospecting is a process, whose
ultimate aim is to build a prospect base
consisting of current customers and
potential customers.

PROSPECTING
IMPORTANCE OF PROSPECTING

Prospecting can be compared to ‘looking for Mackenna’s

gold’. Prospecting looks for customers who have the need and
ability to purchase our product or service.
Customer attrition is due to their movements to a new
location, mergers, out-of-business situation, promotions,
retirements, resignations, serious illness, death.
PLANNING FOR PROSPECTING

In prospecting, the customers are located systematically. Some

prospecting is integrated to sales calls. Prospecting is improved
by:
✯ having a large number of people to convert them into
prospects.
✯ improving their quality.
✯ shortening the sales cycle by qualifying new prospects.
REFERALS

A referral is a prospect recommended by an existing

customer or someone who is familiar with the product. We
have satisfied customers who recommend their friends and
acquaintances. Some business associates also recommend
people.
Friends, Relations, Centers of Influence

This becomes a fertile source for those who have

entered the selling field newly. These are the people
whom we knew before and after they are shot from the
sky. These people ‘beats the bushes’ to find qualified
prospects for a salesman who will pay them a
commission if he makes for the sale.
 Directories

Directories are treasure house used by salespeople to get

the prospects. There are directories of telecom companies,
trade associations, chambers of commerce, professional
associations etc. There are yellow pages, regional and local
directories. Some of them are free, and some are available at
a price. Some international directories are available for the
sale of products in the international market.
Trading Leads

Here, a system is set up whereby we trade

leads with other salesmen, who sell to the same
market. For e.g., home appliance salesman and
people working from home.
TRADE SHOWS
There are trade exhibitions and shows either for
industry in general or for one industry, e.g., book fair at
Kolkata annually or auto expo at Pragati Maidan, Delhi.
The prospects walk into the stall at such shows. It is easy
to identify the prospects and close the sale here.
Sometimes, prospect is qualified at the show, and a
follow-up sales call is needed to close the sale.
TELEMARKETING
Prospects are telephonically contacted. It is useful to
identify prospects. Credit card issuers, personal loan
providers, cellphone companies, home loan providers use
telemarketing to qualify prospects for follow-up. At times,
telemarketing is used to verify sales leads generated by ads,
direct mailers and some other method.
NETWORKING
Creating contacts and nurturing them is a useful trait for any
successful person. This is called networking. It is an art. A
salesman has to be social, and interactive to develop a network.
He should not think of business while networking. A salesman
classifies the contacts into productive and non-productive ones.
 QUALIFYING THE PROSPECT
• A target audience consists of present and potential customers whom
the organization has targeted. This is called the processes of refining.

• All prospects are not equal, say some may not need the product, and
are straightaway eliminated. In the remaining prospects, the potential
to generate sales is assessed. That follows another round of
elimination. This process of identifying prospects who can be
contacted is called qualifying.
 QUALIFYING THE PROSPECT
There are several criteria to qualify prospects:
✯ An existing customer is likely to generate additional business
✯ Person who has stopped buying can be persuaded to revive the
relationship
✯ A person who is user or who is buying from a competitor
✯ Sales generation capacity
✯ Credit rating of the prospect.
Prospects’ Concerns
The following factors are the concerns of most
prospects:
(a)Service,
(b) Quality,
(c) Convenience,
(d)Good Terms,
(e) Product/Service Reliability,
(f) Organization Reputation, and
PROSPECTING PLAN
(g) Price.
Sales and marketing teams
should start with a clearly
defined purpose to identify the
right target, create effective
messaging and position the
value of their solution in the
context of the prospect's
business goals.
• Sales professionals should be
prepared for their calls and have
the necessary knowledge about the
customer, the right way to address
them and be ready to have a business
dialogue.
• They should also have the plan
to handle objections and make a
personal connection.
• Make prospecting personal by
finding ways to connect with
the prospect and using
information from sources
like LinkedIn to create a
unique hinge.
• Be persistent but not a pest in
the prospecting process.
Build trust and credibility by
providing value and information
to the prospect.
• Sales professionals
should continually develop their
prospecting skills, tools, and
methodology.
• They can use tools like best
practices business simulations,
virtual role-play, and social role-
play to enhance their skills.
1. Why is prospecting so challenging in the sales
management?
2. In your own perspectives, what are the challenges
of prospecting you might encounter in the future?
How will you deal with these challenges.
3. In the abovementioned sources of prospecting,
what do you think will be the best source of
prospects? What would be the least source of
prospects?
4. Aside from the mentioned sources of prospecting
what are the other sources of prospects you think
can help you gain more potential customers?