subject: Prospecting - The Third Step Toward Achieving Sales Success [print this page] Fundamentally, planning is formulating a way to achieve or do something; while preparation is being in a state of readiness for what you intend to achieve or do. To place these definitions in context we'll look at a practical sales situation.
All the stuff we do before we pick up the phone to call the customer is the planning such as making the initial appointment; knowing the product; developing a sales call objective and packing the briefcase or satchel with the appropriate tools (order book, receipt book, samples and so on). The preparation is, as I said earlier, being in the correct state of readiness; are you rested; do you look and smell fresh; and more importantly, have you remembered to take the briefcase!
In a nutshell the essence of Planning and Preparation can be summed up in an old tailoring saying, 'Measure twice and cut once'.
Now Prospecting, arguably one of the most critical factors in sustaining a business through sales. Our inventory of potential customers, the sales funnel is the key to our economic survival. According to online marketing genius and writer JulianHall, 'the only thing you need to build a business is customers.'
Through prospecting customers filter through our sales funnel with varying levels of account status and unique sales cycles. They possess differing levels of viscosity as well, filtering through the funnel at different speeds to becoming active. We have established that prospective customers exist in a wide berth of geographical areas preyed upon by sales entrepreneurs of varying skills, unfortunately success goes to the more creative and persistent in finding and developing new customers and eventually, new markets.
The world's most famous real estate investor and best selling author, Donald Trump, tells us that the most effective way to attract new customers is to employ what he calls his WIIFM (What's In It For Me) technique. Think of what your sales proposition will do for your customer. He has done this for in excess of 35 years and distinguished himself as an avid philanthropist and billionaire. Basically Donald has learnt how to keep his existing customers happy and keep a steady flow of new ones filtering through his sales funnel.
It is proven that a major oversight of many salespeople is that they ignore the status of their sales funnel. They unwittingly neglect to maintain ongoing prospecting by focussing too heavily on chasing up new leads and before they know it their funnel is dry. You must develop the attitude to constantly prospect for new business and cultivate new markets as this is the lifeblood of your business. You must also realise that all other activities centre around your ability to keep a steady flow of customers coming in to your business thereby keeping the funnel full.
You may have realised from the need to keep the funnel full that there are significant economic implications here particularly with regard to growth and decline of your business.
