{"id":100,"date":"2015-07-29T22:34:21","date_gmt":"2015-07-29T22:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/salesx17xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&p=100"},"modified":"2015-07-29T22:35:14","modified_gmt":"2015-07-29T22:35:14","slug":"researching-your-prospect-going-deeper","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/cerritos-sales-1\/chapter\/researching-your-prospect-going-deeper\/","title":{"raw":"Researching Your Prospect: Going Deeper","rendered":"Researching Your Prospect: Going Deeper"},"content":{"raw":"
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Learning Objective<\/h3>\r\n
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  1. Explain how to research a qualified prospect and list resources to conduct prospect research.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\nSpring break is just around the corner. You and your friends definitely want to go away somewhere great. You decide on Canc\u00fan, Mexico, as a destination. Since you want to get the best plane fare and hotel rate, you will have to book early. That means planning, coordinating, and even doing some research on the area. You want everything to be perfect\u2014after all, this is spring break.\r\n\r\nJust as preparation made your spring break trip come together perfectly, preparation also makes a sales call successful. By now you\u2019ve identified and qualified your prospects, you\u2019ve come up with an action plan, and you\u2019re probably eager to get down to business. However, you can\u2019t just call your prospect or show up at his door without doing your homework first. How big is his business? What are his business goals? What is his company culture? Is he already doing business with any of your competitors? In what ways do your products or services present a solution he could use? The preapproach, or the process of finding out the answers to these questions, is critical.[footnote]Neil Rakham, The SPIN Selling Fieldbook<\/em> (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996), 39.[\/footnote]<\/span> Doing your research and coming prepared gets your prospect\u2019s attention and shows him that you care. It gives you the power to sell adaptively and puts you ahead of your competitors.\r\n\r\nKeep in mind that when someone ultimately decides to do business with you, he is trusting you with one of the things that\u2019s most important to him\u2014his money. Furthermore, he is trusting in you above all other people and companies to help him with his challenges. Consider that your company is using personal selling because customers want additional information or customization of the product or service in order to make a decision. People only buy from people they trust.[footnote]C. J. Ng, \u201cCustomers Don\u2019t Buy from People They Like, They Buy from Those They Trust,\u201d EzineArticles, August 7, 2008, http:\/\/ezinearticles.com\/?Customers- Dont-Buy-From-People-They-Like,-They-Buy-From-Those-They-Trust&#38;id=1391175<\/a> (accessed July 15, 2009).[\/footnote]<\/span> You have to earn that trust every day. The first step starts here: how well are you prepared to earn his respect and trust?\r\n
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    Gather Information<\/h2>\r\nBy the time you\u2019re ready for the preapproach, you\u2019ve already done some initial research as part of the qualifying process. With the preapproach, you take your research to the next level; you find out as much as you possibly can about the company or individual with whom you want to do business. As marketing and strategy expert Noel Capon says, a thorough understanding of your prospect\u2019s business processes and challenges gives you the crucial insights you\u2019ll need to offer specific, workable solutions your customers can use. Gathering this information demonstrates personal commitment and boosts your credibility with your prospects.[footnote]Noel Capon, Key Account Management and Planning<\/em> (New York: The Free Press, 2001), 142.[\/footnote]<\/span>\r\n\r\nYour research will pay off whether you\u2019re preparing to contact a new prospect\u2014a target account<\/span><\/span>\u2014or whether you\u2019re working with an existing customer. In Chapter 7 \"Prospecting and Qualifying: The Power to Identify Your Customers\", you read that some of your best prospects are the customers you already have. It\u2019s particularly important to identify your key accounts<\/span><\/span>, your current customers who are\u2014or have the potential to be\u2014your most significant sources of sales. Maybe you sell insurance, and you\u2019ve contracted with a large restaurant chain to provide their employee health and dental plan. This key account is one of the largest companies with whom you do business, so you make an extra effort to stay informed about developments that affect this company. You\u2019ve recently received a news alert that due to an unstable economy the restaurant chain has decided to cut employee hours. As a result, many of the staff members are now working part-time and no longer qualify for full health benefits. Based on this information, you call your contact at the company and offer to provide a more flexible and less expensive partial employee benefits package for which their part-time workers could still qualify. You tell her that this solution will serve her company\u2019s need to cut costs and will allow them to retain employees who might otherwise become dissatisfied and leave.\r\n\r\nWhether you\u2019re contacting new or existing customers, it\u2019s important to have your specific call objectives in mind and to clearly map out the information you\u2019ve already gathered about the company so that you can refer to it during the call. You can keep this information organized using a precall planning worksheet<\/span><\/span> that lists the key company statistics you\u2019ve identified as part of your research and includes a checklist detailing the purpose of the call: the information you\u2019d like to learn about the company, the solutions or key facts you plan to communicate, and any other goals you hope to achieve. The worksheet doesn\u2019t have to be complex; it can be as straightforward as the sample in Figure 8.1 \"Precall Planning Worksheet\". Your customer relationship management (CRM) or contact management system (CMS) may also provide a place for you to do your precall planning work. A sample precall planning worksheet is shown in Figure 8.1 \"Precall Planning Worksheet\".\r\n
    \r\n\r\nFigure 8.1<\/span> Precall Planning Worksheet\r\n\r\n\"image\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nListing your goals in writing before you make a sales call gives you the power to measure the success of your call. Did you get the information you needed? Did you communicate the information you listed in your checklist? If not, how can you adapt your approach and set goals for your next sales call?\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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    Going Deeper with the Fundamentals: What You\u2019ll Want to Know<\/h2>\r\nThe first sales call (or calls) is often an extension of the qualifying process. Even if the company passes initial qualification, as you learn more you might find out that they aren\u2019t your ideal customers after all. You might discover that your contact at the company is about to leave or change positions. Or you might realize that the company\u2019s current situation isn\u2019t one in which they\u2019re willing or able to buy. The following are some things you\u2019ll want to know as you research the company during your preapproach.\r\n
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    About the Company<\/h2>\r\n