Preparation

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CHAPTER 6

• Preparation

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The Preparation Step

• the first in a series of sequential actions that
  comprise the "science" of selling
• The way you apply these sequential actions is the
  "art" of selling

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Preparation

• The preparation step involves finding out
• Who the prospects are
• What they need, and
• Why they need or want it

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Answer These Six Questions

• Who are the people in the buying center?
• What roles do they play, in what products are
  they interested?
• Why do they want or need this product?
• How is the buying decision made?
• Where will the decision be made?
• When will it be made?

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Prospecting

• Prospecting
• Identifying and qualifying the specific people
  who might have a want or need that the
  salespersons market offerings could satisfy
• Qualifying
• A continuous process of insuring that the
  prospect meets the guidelines of
• Need
• Pay
• Authority

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The Preapproach

• The preapproach is a knowledge obtaining and
  assessment phase of the sales process
• Salespeople must possess considerable knowledge
  if they are to convert prospects into loyal
  customers

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A Knowledge ManagementFramework for Salespeople

• The Customer
• Organization
• Personal

The Environment

• The Sales Organization
• Product
• Price
• Sales support

Competitive Position
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The Customer

• Customer Organizational Knowledge
• Customer intelligence
• Customer Personal Knowledge
• Hot buttons

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Areas of CustomerOrganizational Knowledge

• Key buying influences
• How prospects and customers use or can use
  products/services
• Customer buying cycles
• Necessary activities to maintain relationships
  with customers
• Customers technical evaluation criteria
• Customers growth plans
• Customers organizations, management structures,
  and lines of responsibility and authority
• Customers preferred suppliers
• Other suppliers with whom customers talk
• Degree to which customers like to be kept
  up-to-date
• Customers preferred communications channels
• What prospects generally are looking for

Refer to Table 6.1 Areas of Customer Knowledge
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Personal Knowledge

• Information about the organizations people is
  quite important
• Ask about personal details
• Know the buyers personal interests

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The Sales Organization

• Salespeople must be knowledgeable about their
  organization

• Product
• Personnel
• History
• Organization policies
• Credit terms
• Production methods
• Service

• Distribution
• Communication channels
• Prices
• Rebates and discounts
• Delivery
• Competitive position
• Sales support

Refer to Table 6.2 Areas of Knowledge About the
Sales Organization
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The Competition

• Salespeople must be up-to-date on the competitive
  position their organization holds in the
  marketplace
• Salespeople can evaluate the strengths and
  weaknesses of their products in individual
  selling situations with knowledge of competitive
  offerings

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The Environment

• Competitive/prospect interface
• Government policy
• Existing and impending legislation
• Technology
• The economic situation
• Regulatory agencies
• The ecological impact products may have
• The global marketplace

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How Much Time is Required to Prepare?

• Spend twice as much time preparing for each call
  as you would spend in the presence of a customer
• Preparation should be done on non-selling time
• Pre-flight your sales presentation
• Professional practice helps build professional
  proficiency and agility

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Presentation Structure

• Salespeople should view structure as a means of
  organizing knowledge in order to understand the
  individual prospects needs and be able to
  customize the presentation to fit the prospects
  situation
• REVIEW THE ROAD MAP

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The Importance of ProspectingWith Existing
Customers

• Existing customers can switch suppliers if
  current service is not up to par
• Existing customers are being called on by
  competitive salespeople who are always presenting
  new information
• It is much less expensive to call on existing
  customers than to find new ones
• Existing clients are often the best source of new
  customers

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Developing Prospects

• The best time for salespeople to develop
  prospects is when they do not need them
• Salespeople should develop the habit of
  evaluating everyone they know or meet as a
  potential prospect or suspect

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Figure 6.3Classification of Potentialand
Current Customers
SUSPECT
CUSTOMER
QUALIFIED PROSPECT
CLIENT
Someone the salesperson has not yet qualified.
Someone who has met the minimum criteria of
money, authority and desire to buy, but has not
yet purchased.
Someone who has purchased before.
Someone with whom the salesperson has a
partnership.
UNQUALIFIED PROSPECT
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Steps in theProspecting Stage

• Identification
• Qualification

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Market Segmentation

• Market segmentation is the division of a market
  into groupings of customers with similar wants
  usually (but not always) within a geographic
  territory.

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Specialization

• Within a geographic boundary, the salesperson's
  territory may be further subdivided
• Customer type
• Defined in terms of customer characteristics
• e.g. by industry, by potential sales volume, by
  distance from a service center, etc.
• Product line
• Defined by the product or service sold

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Developing aLead Generation Program

• Market segmentation
• Lead generation
• Direct-mail
• Telephone selling
• Personal visits
• A computerized lead generation package
• Call report program

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Prospecting Techniques

• Three Categories
• Internal sources of prospects
• Prospects found by market intelligence
• Prospects generated by specific actions

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Internal Sources of Prospects

• Sales records
• Organizational promotional activities
• Referrals
• Walk-ins
• Inquiries

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Identifying ProspectsThrough Market Intelligence

• Lists
• Cross-Indexed directory
• News media
• Government sources
• Observation
• Computerized databases
• SIC numbers

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Major Search Engines

• Googlehttp//www.google.com
• AllTheWeb.com (FAST)http//www.alltheweb.com
• Yahoohttp//www.yahoo.com
• MSN Searchhttp//search.msn.com
• AOL Searchhttp//aolsearch.aol.com
  (internal)http//search.aol.com/ (external)
• Ask Jeeveshttp//www.askjeeves.com
• HotBothttp//www.hotbot.com

• Lycoshttp//www.lycos.com
• Teomahttp//www.teoma.com
• Inktomihttp//www.inktomi.com
• LookSmarthttp//www.looksmart.com
• Open Directoryhttp//dmoz.org/
• AltaVistahttp//www.altavista.com
• Netscape Searchhttp//search.netscape.com
• WiseNuthttp//www.wisenut.com

Click on each link to go to the web site.
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Online Resources
ABI/INFORM
Click on each logo to go to the web site.
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Identifying Prospectsby Specific Actions

• Letter with a follow-up phone call
• Referrals
• Bird dogs
• Cold calls
• Networking

• Incentives
• Other sales professionals
• Trade shows
• Educational forums

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Turning Suspects IntoBona Fide Prospects

• Identify MAD Customers
• Money to Buy
• Authority to Buy
• Desire to Buy

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Nature and Importanceof Qualification

• The nature of the qualifying task is different
  for various types of personal selling
• Salespeople must be resourceful and should devote
  time and effort to the search and qualification
  phase

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Prospecting Effectively

• Systematize prospecting
• Set prospecting objectives
• Follow through
• Look for new sources of prospects
• Evaluate prospecting activities

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Maintaining Contactwith Customers

• Salespeople should maintain personal contact by
  occasionally
• Writing a letter or brief note
• Making a telephone call
• Sending a fax or e-mail
• Such simple gestures can generate business for
  the salesperson

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Prospecting Steps Differ According to Types of
Selling

• Responsive Selling
• Trade Selling
• Missionary Selling
• Technical Selling
• New-Business Selling

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Responsive Selling

• Takes place on the sellers premises, in response
  to buyer-initiated contact
• Retailing to consumers
• The inside order desk
• The salesperson qualifies purchasers from
  searchers in terms of type and amount of product
  desired
• Already in the search stage

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Trade Selling

• Takes place on the buyers rather than the
  sellers premises
• Wholesaler and retailer contact
• The salesperson usually sells to all members of
  the buying center
• Already in the search stage

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Missionary Selling

• The salesperson does not attempt to close a sale
  but to gain a commitment from the authorizer or
  influencer
• Sells to all members of the buying center except
  for the end-user or consumer
• May be in any stage of the buying process

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Technical Selling

• Involves marketing fairly complex and
  sophisticated products to organization buyers
• More than one individual is almost always
  involved
• Any individual involved may be in any stage in
  the buying process

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New-Business Selling

• Deals mostly with new customers
• The salesperson identifies and qualifies a large
  pool of potential prospects
• Many will not be converted to the next stage in
  the buying process

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Successful salespeople know that the best
prospects are satisfied customers