subject: How Prospect Profiling Enhances Sales Efficiency [print this page] Sales impact Sales impact
Companies today realise that the traditional demographic segmentation methods are inadequate for recognising customers and it is necessary to have a clearer understanding of the environmental, behavioural and situational factors that are indispensible for gauging B2B and B2C buying behaviour.
The term prospect profiling refers to identifying a companys prospective clients by means of detailed market research. No matter what the company is selling or how it is selling that particular thing, it is important to know the people that are being dealt with. Prospect profiling involves understanding each and every prospect and determining the best sales approach and strategy that can clinch the deal.
The potential prospects of a company can come from various sources that include existing customers, personal contacts, directories, computerised databases, trade shows and trade publications. In order to define quality prospects, the prospect profiling companies consider additional criteria that involve prospects like geographical proximity, marketplace functions and the sales volume levels.
The customer profiling experts task is to narrow down the personal selling effort to target the right customers. This requires a lot of research which includes:
Following
the leads in the target market to identify the potential customers
Finding live prospects that can help in making the buying decisions easier
Look out for new potential customers while maintaining a steady relationship with the existing customers
Identifying human psychology
Consumers are often careful about what their approach is going to be regarding money. The decisions that people make are often based on various subjective, emotional and traditional points of view. Psychological research on the financial behaviour of consumers can be key to prospect profiling. However, such analysis can sometimes be misguiding as well, which can result in major losses for the company and ultimately lead to scrapping the deal with the profiling company. In case the profiler is from the same company, it can result in the loss of jobs. It is therefore important for profilers to learn the skills of dealing with personalities.
Dealing with consumer behaviour and personality
Here are few suggestions that can help the profiler/analyst gain insights into the psyche of the clients while also helping them to communicate with the consumers effectively.
Paying attention: The analyst should have a clear idea on what the consumers are opposed to. Their body language is a better indicator of what they are looking for.
Listening to what the consumers do not say is as important as listening to what they are saying.
Market perception: The customers expectations and judgements are based mainly on the way they perceive the market. Their judgment shouldnt be regarded as the ground stone for judgement. However, it is also crucial to their fears and expectations and filter them down to identify what they are actually trying to say
Targeting individual families can also be impactful. It is likely that a father using a certain brand is likely to force it into the children as well. What the analyst can do is add incentives to these likings
Brand communication: Conveying certain messages to the prospective clients can help to build brand communication.
