Sales Prospecting Lesson Three: Collecting Useful Information

So far, we have discussed the importance of prospecting and looked at a series of parts – or steps – involved in building a “Prospect Factory.” Next we talked about defining your market – which is to say,

• focusing on what you are selling,
• defining what types of persons or businesses buy your products, and
• determining where they are located.

We also talked about primary research as a tool for identifying potential prospects. We noted that a list collected over time through personal research is a very valuable one-time-opportunity and cannot be purchased in the future!

In this lesson, we discuss interaction with the prospects on your list and the value of information.

Though there are many elements to successful prospecting, one area that is often overlooked is the importance of collecting information. We have alluded to this a little already when we opened the idea of collecting primary research. One reason why so many salespeople do not focus on collecting information is that they are uncertain what they would do with such information if they had it. Most data collected by salespeople is only used in the short term context of either closing or not closing an immediate sale. If the sale is not closed, qualifying information is discarded. You must, however, make it an ongoing priority to collect pertinent, qualifying facts about potential prospects in your market.