Chapter 06 – Prospecting
CHAPTER 6
PROSPECTING
Outline of Chapter
I. The Importance of Prospecting
II. Characteristics of a Good Prospect
A. Does a want or need exist?
B. Does the lead have the ability to pay?
III. How and Where to Obtain Prospects
A. Satisfied customers
B. Endless-chain method
C. Networking
D. Social Networking
E. Other uses of the Internet
P. Other sources of leads
IV. Lead Qualification and Management Systems
V. Overcoming a Reluctance to Prospect
VI. Selling Yourself
VII. Summary
Chapter 06 – Prospecting
Teaching Suggestions
(an alternative would be to use the PowerPoint slides provided with the text)
1. Begin by discussing a real life situation from your life to see if students can predict if you are a
prospect or not for a specific product/service. For example:
“I own a 2009 Plymouth Voyager with 85,000 miles. I have 4 children and take at least two long
trips (over 500 miles) each year. I haven’t had many repairs (last year’s repairs were $900) and I
like the way the car drives.”
“Now assume that you are a car salesperson which sells mini and full size vans. Do you consider
me a prospect? Am I a good lead?”
2. Discuss the various methods of prospecting.
Then ask students which methods would be best, assuming they are trying to prospect for a job
right out of college. [List their answers on the whiteboard]. They should assume that they are
trying to secure an entry-level sales position. Don’t just let them list where to obtain leads, make
them be more specific. For example if a student says “lists” ask “What lists? Where can you get
them?” etc
3. Note that the best prospecting methods in a given situation are not those that supply the largest
number of leads. The best are those that supply the largest number of eventual sales and profits.
4. Briefly talk about the importance of developing a lead qualification and management system and
keeping good prospecting records. You probably want to discuss NetSuite software at this point.
5. Summarize what you covered:
Characteristics of a prospect.
Chapter 06 – Prospecting
Suggested Answers to Ethics Problems
1. Suppose you’re working at a trade show. You walk the floor of the show during one of your
breaks, and you strike up a conversation with a salesrep from a competitor. She starts talks
about their products and gives details on price breaks she offers to banks. She asks, “What kind
of price deals do you give banks?” What would you say?
Do not talk about pricing at all. To do so can be considered price fixing by the FBI. Just say,
2. Suppose a spotter not only tells you about a potential prospect, but also provides you with
confidential memos and emails, detailing the people involved and what the issues are. However,
the emails and notes are all marked with statements which prohibit the information from being
shared with anyone outside of the company. What will you do with that confidential information
that you’re not supposed to have?
Ethically, you should not use it. You should destroy any memos or emails that are so marked. If
Suggested Answers to Questions and Problems
1. Describe a referral event that could be created, assuming you are a member of a service
club in your college. Your target market for new leads consists of students not currently
members in any service club.
In the middle of the fall term, you could gather a group of your current club members and ask
2. Think of a time when you actually were a negative referral for a product or service or company.
Why did you do it? What could the company or salesperson have done to cause you to not be a
negative referral?
3. What things would concern you about prospecting? How will you deal with those
concerns?
Chapter 06 – Prospecting
4. Assume you are a landscape contractor and you specialize in planting quality trees and plants.
Whom might you use as paid spotters to generate leads?
5. Reluctance to prospect is a real phenomenon. What can you do now (and avoid doing now), while
you’re in school, to avoid being reluctant to prospect when you become a salesperson?
• Engage in role playing activity in class to learn that it’s not that bad when someone says
“no.”
6. Assume you sell restaurant supplies like cooking equipment, tabletop accessories, tables and
chairs. Locate at least one merchandise mart and one trade show or fair where you might be able
to display your products.
7. How would you develop a prospect list under the following situations?
a. You belong to a Lions Club that needs to recruit new members.
Current members (satisfied “customers”) could identify that would be good prospects.
Chapter 06 – Prospecting
8. “Building Partnerships 6.1″ describes how salespeople for BlueLinx look for prospects as they
drive in their territory. Would there be any risks of relying exclusively on that technique?
9. “From the Buyer’s Seat 6.1 described how some sellers try to get Macy’s to buy clothing products
that are too expensive. Assume you are a seller who is selling clothing that is above Macy’s price
lines. What would you do?
Student answers will vary. If Macy’s really doesn’t need that line of clothing, then the seller
10. If you were a salesperson for the following, how would you develop a prospect list?
a. A new line of doors that are energy-efficient.
• Satisfied customers who have purchased your doors in the past.
Chapter 06 – Prospecting
c. A manufacturer of an antitheft deterrent device for blu-ray players.
• Satisfied customers.
Suggested Answers to Case Problems
Chapter 06 – Prospecting
Case 6-1: Federated Insurance
Questions
1. What should the salesperson do?
2. How should the salesperson communicate that decision to his customer? To his own company,
Federated?
Here is an answer, from the actual salesperson: So what did I do? I gave the owner back his check and
Chapter 06 – Prospecting
Case 6-2: Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile
Questions
1. Provide a list of company names and addresses of five actual leads for the Chicago Marriott Downtown
2. Develop the details of an appropriate referral event for the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile.
Provide information on the place of the event as well as what should happen during the event. Be creative.
Remember that referral events should be fun for current clients as well as leads.
End of Chapter Role Play
For the Instructor
On the next three pages you will find the buyer role play sheets needed to complete this role play in class.
Debriefing for after the role plays:
As you debrief this role play, there are a couple of items you may want to discuss. One is whether or not
the seller has a prospect and if so, why? In most of these instances, the person they are talking to, at this
point, is not the decision maker so it is difficult to say they really have a prospect. You can foreshadow
some of the material on commitment in Chapter 11 by pointing
out that the only sale they can make is a recommendation to be considered at the next step. So ask, “If you
Chapter 06 – Prospecting
BancVue Buyer Role Play Information
Chapter 6 End of Chapter Role Play Case
As you respond to your seller’s questions, keep the answers brief and to the point. Encourage the seller to
develop questioning skills by not giving all of the information at once.
The company does a lot of direct mail to marketing departments. If you get a 5% response rate, that is
considered a success. The reps are then given the leads and they telephone them. Reps also telephone
their own lists. They may buy lists, or they may simply call current accounts and ask for referrals.
Chapter 06 – Prospecting
GelTech Buyer Role Play Information
Chapter 6 End of Chapter Role Play Case
As you respond to your seller’s questions, keep the answers brief and to the point. Encourage the seller to
develop questioning skills by not giving all of the information at once.
You Your salespeople call on fire departments, and these don’t change very often. In commercial
buildings, the key decision makers are the architects who specify fire suppression systems and the general
Chapter 06 – Prospecting
HighPoint Solutions Buyer Role Play Information
Chapter 6 End of Chapter Role Play Case
As you respond to your seller’s questions, keep the answers brief and to the point. Encourage the seller to
develop questioning skills by not giving all of the information at once.
The company does no direct mail campaigns on a regular basis. Probably once a year, the company might
purchase a mailing list and send out direct mail, but only if a new product or program is introduced. The
VP of sales and marketing would like to do more direct mail but doesn’t like buying lists because they
usually have so many inaccuracies that 20% or more of the mail-out comes back, and probably another
20% gets thrown out because the person is no longer there.
Chapter 06 – Prospecting
EXERCISE 6-1 ACTUAL PROSPECTING AND PRECALL ACTIVITIES OF A
SALESPERSON
Contact a salesperson and learn about how he or she prospects and gains precall information. Answer the
following questions.
1. Which prospecting methods provide the largest number of leads for him or her?
2. Which methods provide the greatest number of eventual sales?
Chapter 06 – Prospecting
Exercise 6-2 Linked In Exercise
First, join LinkedIn and complete your profile. Then answer the following questions, using the
various search tools available in LinkedIn.
1. Find a job in medical devices sales. Briefly tell me about that opening.
A. How many employees do they have?
B. How many employees at Target are in your network?
C. Look at Popular Profiles for Target for the senior buyer. List his career path.
4. Find Bruce Popham who owns a boat yard. Where did he get his education?