Sales management

Prospecting is a word commonly used in mining. When some of underground resources are searched for, it is known as prospecting. In salesmanship too, the term prospecting is most commonly used with identical meaning. Prospecting is the first step in the selling process. In salesmanship, searching out person who are in used of the product and likely to be the probable buyer or potential customers in known prospecting.

Characteristics of a good prospect
Everyone can not be considered a prospect. The salesman uses some qualifying methods to make a fair judgment of the prospects. Individuals who process centain characteristics are called a qualifying or good prospect. The basic characteristic of good prospect are as follow:

Need to buy

Ability to buy

Authority to buy
The sales man has to ensure whether the prospect has the necessary authority to buy. A person may have the ability need but in the absence of the required authority, he can not quality to be a good prospect. For example: certain medicines can not be sold without physician’s prescription

Accessibility

Certain people have the need, purchasing power and the authority to buy but without accessibility we can not considered as a good prospect Unless and until he is approachable with usual efforts and expense.

Methods of prospecting

There are several methods of prospecting or collecting important information about the likely consumers or prospect. It is up to salesman to Adapt a particular method or prospecting. Following are some of the importance and most frequently used methods of prospecting:

Endless chain or family tree method
Under these methods the salesman while interviewing a prospect can collect the names and addresses of relatives, friends and family members of the prospect. It is continuous or endless process.

Canvassing or cold turkey method
The salesman prepares a random list of individuals and starts meeting them without any previous knowledge of their tastes, likes financial status. And canvasses about those product sales man want to sell.

Centre of influence method
The salesman takes the help of influential person who are willing to provide information regarding prospect.

Personal observation method
An intelligent sales man can easily located prospect everywhere if he keeps his eyes and ears open

Direct mail or telephone method
The sales man approaches the former buyer and present users direct mail or phone callk and informs them about the new product.

Company records

The sales man used company records usually contain the name and address of the past and current customers.

Spotter’s method
This method the junior salesman lo9cate the prospect and the senior sales man try to convert them into customers with there experience and professional touch.

Bird dog method
Bird and dog in a nice name, it means those person who visit house at regular intervals. Example, the milk supplier newspaper boy . such bird and dog provide vital information relating to households on the basic of which tea salesman can proceed to identify the prospects for their product and service.

Leads from sales manager
From sales manager provided valuable information about prospect to their sales man.

Public exhibition and demonstration
Company organize Public exhibition and demonstration and selling staff usually participates in such exhibition and demonstration. At the exhibition company sales staff note all those visitor such interested about there product and later on sales man contracted either at their residences or offices.


Before the above mentained methods there are several other methods of prospecting like collecting information about the prospects from newspaper, club records, trade directories, trade associations, religious funcation, and so on.