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Chapter 9
DEVELOPING AND QUALIFYING
PROSPECT AND ACCOUNTS
Chapters 8 and 9 make up Part 4, Developing a Customer Strategy. With increased
1. Identifying and developing potential customers is an important aspect of the customer
strategy.
1) Use of CRM software monitors movement of the customer through the sales
process.
2) Every effort is made to devise and implement a customer strategy that builds,
fosters, nurtures, and extends relationships with established customers.
3) CRM software is critical to building partnerships with a large customer base
B. Importance of prospecting and account development.
1. Common causes of customer attrition:
a. The account may have a one-time need or there is an extended period of time
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1) Failure rate is quite high in some areas.
2) Record number of mergers in recent years.
d. Loyal buyer or purchasing agent may leave his or her position due to promotion,
2. New prospects and accounts must be put on the Ferris wheel to fill the empty spaces.
3. Process continues until all original riders have been replaced with new ones.
II. Prospecting and Account Development Requires Planning
1. Increase the number of people or accounts who board the Ferris wheel.
2. Improve the quality of the prospects that board the Ferris wheel.
3. Shorten the sales cycle by quickly determining which of the new prospects are
qualified prospects – qualified as to:
1. Some prospecting techniques that worked well in the past may become ineffective
because of changing market conditions.
1. A referral is a prospect that has been recommended by a current customer or by
someone who is familiar with your product.
a. Endless chain referrals – asking all current prospects and customers to suggest
1. Social media provide an excellent opportunity for finding prospects and reaching out
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b. In Twitter, you can use tools such as FollowerWonk, TweetDeck, HootSuite, or
2. Remember the nature of these media: they are personal networks.
a. Focus on building relationships with relevant customers, since relationships are
1. Using friends and family members as sources of information regarding potential
customers.
2. Person may not make buying decisions but has influence with other people who do.
E. Directories
1. Using published sources of names by marketing segments as potential customers to
be contacted.
2. Examples: The Polk City Directory; Thomas Register of American Manufacturers;
1. Provide status reports on every major industry; may report on trends, new products,
problems, innovations, and other related information.
2. Examples: Trade journals such as Institutional Distribution, Home Furnishings,
1. A large exhibit of products that are, in most cases, common to one industry, prospect
visits exhibition booths, and talks with representatives.
2. Research indicates it is often easier to identify good prospects and close sales at trade
shows.
3. A special event can be a baseball game, auto race, or charity event.
H. Telemarketing and Email
1. Telemarketing is the practice of marketing goods and services through telephone
contact.
2. Email
1. Using advertising campaigns that cause prospects to ask for more information.
2. Sales letters are sent to persons who have buying authority.
J. Website
1. Collection of web pages accessible to any prospect with a computer.
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2. Frequently offer prospects the opportunity to acquire product information that can
1. Using a computerized prospect list to match product features with the needs of
1. Selecting a group of people who may or may not be actual prospects and then calling
on each one.
2. Cold call opener is often referred to as an “elevator presentation,” which is
a 30-second message that summarizes what person should know about salesperson,
company, and product line.
3. Successful cold calls do not happen spontaneously.
4. Some strategic thinking and planning must precede personal visits and telephone
1. The art of making and using contacts, or people meeting people and profiting from
the connections.
2. Skilled networkers suggest the following guidelines for identifying good referrals:
a. Meet as many people as you can.
3. Three types of networks salespeople should grow and nurture:
a. Networks within salesperson’s own organization.
1. Using seminars to identify and generate new prospects.
O. Prospecting and account development by nonsales employees.
1. Orient and train all employees, such as service technicians, receptionists, and bank
tellers, to be involved in prospecting.
2. Prospecting does not need to be the exclusive responsibility of the sales force.
P. Combination approaches
1. Using a combination of approaches to identify and call on qualified prospects.
IV. Qualifying Prospects and Accounts
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D. Some sales organizations link the qualifying process with the need discovery step in the
consultative sales process.
E. Criteria for qualifying prospects:
1. Does the prospect have a need for the product?
2. Does the prospect have the authority to buy the product?
3. Does the prospect have the financial resources to buy the product?
4. Does the prospect have the willingness to buy the product?
V. Collecting and Organizing Account and Prospect Information
A. The Internet and information revolution continues to make acquiring and managing sales
leads much easier.
B. Companies such as Salesforce.com, Oracle, NetSuite, Sage, and Microsoft offer software
a. Includes the contact name, title, address, phone number, e-mail, etc.
b. May also include information about what products have been purchased, what sales
opportunities exist in the future, who the various members or influencers are in the
buying center, what their preferred communication styles are, past sales and
forecasted sales, volume, and percentage change and date of closing the sale.
c. Goes beyond data, giving salespeople access to insights into the prospects’
marketplace, firm, competitors, even about the prospects themselves.
d. Needed over and above sales data because prospects are looking for insights and
knowledge from salespeople above and beyond the product features and benefits.
e. Knowing answers to the following questions create much of the value that results in
A. To effectively and efficiently manage the prospect base, sales managers and sales people
often conduct an account analysis to estimate the sales potential for each prospect.
B. The portfolio model and the sales funnel model are two popular models for performing
the account analysis and allocating resources to qualified prospects in the database:
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1. Portfolio models: portfolio models involve the use of multiple factors when
classifying prospects (Figure 9.6).
2. Sales process models (Figure 9.7)
a. Sales process models, also referred to as “sales funnel models,” classify prospects
1) Prospect,
2) Qualified
3) Needs analysis,
4) Presentation,
5) Negotiations, and
6) Closed/service.
3. Sales funnel is the total set of prospects being pursued at any given time.
a. A balanced funnel enables salespeople to know how many prospects and how
1. The process of managing all the prospects in the salesperson’s sales funnel to ensure
that sales objectives are being met is called pipeline management.
4. CRM software provides an efficient and effective tool for forecasting and managing
pipelines.
5. Pipe analytics, defined as the ability to conduct sophisticated data analysis and
modeling, are found in most CRM systems.
6. Pipeline dashboards visualizations that define, monitor, and analyze the
relationships existing in the pipeline or sales funnel.