Sales Prospecting Lesson Four: Plus Lists, Databases and One-Pagers

OK, so we have covered a lot so far! Last lesson we looked more closely at interaction with the prospects on your list and further explored the value of information. I can’t stress enough how important it is to begin collecting a list of prospects you have identified through primary research.

Remember too that such a list includes people you have met or interacted with throughout the course of your career. These are prospects you have noted through phone calls, personal observation, trade shows, seminars, surveys, etc. And, all those you have identified through other research that you believe match up well with your buyer description (see Lesson One).

And I’ll say it again:

“…a list of prospects filtered through your eyes and your business activities is extremely valuable and can only be created by you!”

This list should be stored in a database and contain all of your key business contacts and the names of prospects and all other business contacts you have developed over the years. Generally, it is difficult to go back and recreate such a list later – (though, if you think you can do it, it’s worth a try!). No matter where you are in your sales career, the best time to begin collecting such a list is NOW! In many ways, your lifelong economic value has a direct relationship with the value of your lifelong contact list!

In this lesson, we’ll discuss databases and mailing. But, we will start off by introducing a new concept, something I call the “Plus List.”