High-Profit Prospecting

Summery of the seven questions to be considered when developing a prospecting process

What are you selling? who are you selling to?

Do i sell a consumable or something people buy on a regular basis?

how often do i need to reach out to the prospect?

is what i sell a routine purchase, or is it considered a capital expenditure or major expense?

items that are considered a routine purchase typically will not need as much an approval process this means the person buying may be lower in the organisationif what i am selling is considered a capital expenditure, i may need to work through multiple decision makers to gain a sale, may need to build my strategy around multiple contacts in the company

are my customers professional buyers who inter phase with numerous sales people

prospecting buyers know how to take advantage of sales people, this means they will most likely subscribe to the practice of never acknowledging your prospecting efforts until they arre at the point of making a buying decision. their silence does not mean you do not prospect to them; consistency is key, it will build confidence

if the customer chooses not to buy from me, are they buying from a competitor or not making a purchase at all?

if the prospect is buying either way, it means your prospecting process must be frequent enough to allow you to be on the front end of the buying process, strong emphasis on developing relationships over a period of time educating customers along the way

are my prospects currently buying what i sell from someone else?

this is the hardest lead, it means my efforts must be geared towards creating awareness, short of having a significant point of difference; you are typically waiting for the incumbent to stumble. the upside is, when you gain this customer they most likely become loyal long term customers. the competitor will at some point make a mistake or have an issue, if you have taken time to build awareness, you could be the one the customer turns to when the existing supplier slips up

is what i sell purchased via contract, quote or some other type of dead line process?

the need to be careful when selling into this space, customer will actively engage with multiple companies at the same time, only to play the companies against each other, these customers require long lead times due to the length of some contracts. first you want to find out their time line, second you want to build credibility. you objective is to be on the front end of the process and not be invited to the party last minute, ultimately your prospecting will be over a long period of time with multiple contacts in the same organisation.

are customers familiar with what i sell or is it something i need to educate them about?

if the people you are talking to are not familiar with how you can help them, your prospecting process must include enough time and communication to allow the customer to become educated.