Sales Prospecting Lesson Five: Putting It All Together

So we’ve finally made it to the last of our five lessons together! We have talked about a lot! As usual, let’s begin by doing some review.

First, prospecting starts with identifying what you sell and who buys what you sell. With this information you will create a buyer description. With a buyer description in hand, you can apply it as a “filter” against the universe of prospects. You do this in order to determine which prospects you encounter match up favorably with the profile of your typical buyer. The universe of prospects includes prospects you derive from scouring list sources:

• directories
• internet
• Chambers of Commerce
• prospects you meet via personal contact
• trade shows
• seminars
• surveys
• clubs
• round tables
• personal observation and more!

Next, create and maintain a contact database [Sponsored Link - contact management software - Act! By Sage 2010] of such prospects. Design your database so it is able to be sorted for useful criteria – such as prior contact dates and future follow-up dates. Seek ways to differentiate between your less well known prospects and your better qualified prospects. In doing so, you can create a Plus List. Systematically reach out through scheduled contact and systematic mailings (i.e. One Pagers) to your Plus Listings. Maintain your list over time by adding new names as they become available and by removing disqualified names.

So now, assuming you’ve done all this work and put your system in place, where are all the prospects? Let’s answer that question now, in Lesson Five!