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 Has
this ever happened to you? You meet someone you think
you can help. They agree to meet with you for a first
appointment and after the appointment they say they’ll
give you a call. A week or two goes by and you don’t
hear from them so you make several follow-up attempts.
You leave lots of voice mail messages send some
emails, maybe even write a letter . They don't
respond. So you end up wasting your valuable time chasing
people who were probably not good prospects to begin
with.
What’s a qualified prospect anyway? And how do you go about finding one?
Prospect:
Individuals or companies that have a need for your products
and services. Have the ability and willingness to pay
and the power to make a buying decision.
One of the biggest time wasters and a
source of great frustration for many sales people is
chasing after people who were not properly qualified
in the first place. Here are four tips to help
you qualify your prospects.
1.
Develop a detail description or profile of your ideal
client or customer.
When prospecting for new customers it
makes sense to know what you re looking for. If you
don’t know what you are looking for how will know when
you find it?
If you’re doing business to business sales things you
should include in your profile are: type of industry,
sales volume, number of employees, job function and
title. Are they currently buying similar products or
services?
On
the other hand if you are selling business to consumer
you should be including characteristics like: age, gender,
income, marital status, occupation, educational background,
hobbies and neighbourhoods.
2.
Ask questions to learn as much as you can about your
potential clients.
Asking
questions can save you a lot of wasted time, effort
and frustration. You need to ask open-ended questions
to find out the needs or problems of your target market;
to determine if your product or service will meet their
needs or solve their problems. Determining whether they
are currently buying a similar product or service can
also be very helpful. If they are, what do they like
best about their current supplier, what don’t they like.
3.
Are you dealing with the person who is the final decision
maker?
Sales professionals spend
many days, weeks, even months chasing after people who
have the power to say no, but don’t have the power to
say yes. Here’s an example of a question you can ask
to find out if you’re dealing with the right person.
“Assuming my product/service can meet all your needs
and concerns who do you usually run decisions by for
final input”. Their answer will give you a good indication
if they are the final decision maker or if you need
to be meeting someone else in the organization.
If
you’re dealing with a married couple and you’re focusing
on dealing with the husband when it’s the wife who has
the final say, you will end up doing a lot of work for
nothing. Don’t make assumptions ask probing questions
to find out the “lay of the land”
4.
Get people to identify themselves as your prospects.
How do you do this? By implementing direct response
marketing activities. In all your prospecting activities
offer your target market FREE reports, guides or tips
that will inform and educate them about the issues that
your products or services can solve.
The bottom line is if you want to deal with high quality,
qualified prospects who are
ready to buy, you have to PLAN
your prospecting activities. Winging it usually results
in wasted time, money, a heavy dose of frustration and
NO SALE.
Your comments and feedback on my articles are always
welcomed. If you have a suggestion for a topic for me
to write about send me an email.
Author: Kevin Toney is “The Marketing Coach”. Kevin coaches small business owners and sales professionals on how to find and attract new customers, increase repeat business and generate a steady flow of referrals. Call 204-783-6342 for your FREE over the phone Coaching Session where you can get solutions to your marketing challenges.
Business Trivia
According to the National Institute of Business Management, one of every eight boss-secretary romances ends in marriage. One out of 10 secretaries admits to having been romantically involved with her boss, with only 25 percent saying that the experience had negative impact on their careers.
Just For Laughs
www.HowToIncreaseYourSales.ca
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