Test Blog: Marketing

What is marketing

The Role of Prospecting in the Sales Process

Introduction

As we begin to examine the role of prospecting in sales, let’s take a look at the basic sales process. Before a person becomes a customer, and hopefully a repeat customer, they must first be a prospect. You will always have more prospects than customers, since not every person you contact will see the benefit in the product or service you are offering. Figure 1 shows the basic development of a prospect in the sales process.

The Changing Face of Prospecting

Like everything else about business, prospecting changes on a regular basis. The way that we reach prospects will naturally reflect changes in our methods of communication and our technologies. The history of prospecting over the last several decades has changed dramatically, but the most dramatic changes have come since the advent of the internet and web-based advertising. Plus, the trend towards globalization means that we have to consider ways of communicating with others who may have very different needs than the customers we have worked with before.

Prospects and customers have changed as well. Today, we as customers expect immediate, convenient, individualized service. If one organization doesn’t provide it, chances are we have another choice to turn to. So understanding your potential customers is vital to overcoming the competition and learning what it will take to help your prospect choose your product or service rather than the competition’s. In Figure 2 below, a comparison is made between traditional prospecting of the 1960s–1980s and modern prospecting. You’ll see how the way we work with prospects has been impacted by the changes in our modern environment and by customer expectations.

Let’s examine the information in Figure 2 in more detail. Whereas once it was enough to know the

product you were selling when looking for prospects, today you need to know more than the product. You need to know what your prospects are dealing with in their own businesses. You should be able to answer the following questions about your prospects:

· What are their needs?
· What are their challenges?
· What do their own customers and partners need?
· How can my product or service meet the prospect or the prospect’s customers’ needs or assist with the challenges that the prospect is facing?
· How will my product or service make the prospect more competitive in their own marketplace?

If you don’t know the answer to these questions, you won’t be able to convert a prospect to a customer. However, you might not know all of this information when you first contact the prospect. Your first contact might involve some information-gathering with the prospect before you can know all of this information.

Next, Figure 2 tells us that the way that your offering will be judged by a prospect has changed. In the past, your prospect would have been interested in comparing your price to your competition’s and making a choice based solely on cost. But today, your prospects will want to know more about your company. They will decide on a provider based in part on non-financial aspects of your offering, such as your company’s values, ethics, social responsibility, environmental responsibility, and more.

What this means for the salesperson is that you will need to know more than just your product or service. You will need to be familiar with the aspects of your company that will be of interest to your prospects. You will have to present this information as part of your sales presentation so that the prospect knows what kind of company they are considering doing business with.

This leads us to the next item in Figure 2 – that you may not be the only person in your organization that deals with the prospect. In giving the prospect the full picture of your organization, you may need to bring in other representatives of the organization to help you. Plus, once you’ve made initial contact, your prospect may be having conversations with others in your organization as part of their selection process. For example, the prospect may want to speak to your product’s technical team in order to review what changes would be necessary to their internal fulfillment systems if they choose your product. This means that in many cases, though you’ll be making the initial contact on your own, it will take your team’s effort to transform a prospect into an actual customer.

Finally, Figure 2 mentions the change in focus that organizations have for their sales teams. In traditional sales environments, the focus has been only on prospecting and acquiring new customers. Today, though prospecting is important, organizations now encourage salespeople to focus on retaining current customers and selling new products and services to them. This is because it is much easier and more cost effective to prospect amongst your existing customers.

What is Prospecting

Throughout, you’ll be getting some techniques, tools, and advice on how to be successful at prospecting as part of your sales process. But what exactly do we mean by prospecting? We mean the act of researching, contacting, and beginning conversations with potential customers. Without prospecting, there would be no sales profession.

When you are doing prospecting well, you are helping a customer to solve a problem, access a new area of business, or become more efficient by matching the customer’s needs with a product or service that you offer. Yet some people have a negative attitude when it comes to prospecting in sales. They are concerned that they will be wasting time, that they will be perceived as a nuisance, or that they simply won’t get the results that they were hoping for. But by following the advices, you can learn to view prospecting as an opportunity rather than a chore.

The four Myths of Sales Prospecting

Now that we’ve talked a bit about what prospecting is, let’s talk about what it is not. You have probably heard or thought the myths listed below about prospecting. But when you are performing prospecting as part of your professional sales process, you will see that these myths are just that – myths. They are not accurate descriptions of what true sales prospecting involves.

· Myth 1: Prospecting is sales – prospecting is not sales. It is the first step in the sales process, certainly, but it is not the sales step itself. Prospecting is the act of locating customers that can benefit from the value that your product or service creates for them. The actual selling doesn’t start until after you’ve identified, or qualified, someone as a viable prospect – and it may not even occur at the same time as your initial contact.

· Myth 2: Prospecting is a numbers game – this is a long-standing myth that is held by people who don’t understand how to prospect properly. Anyone who is a sales professional and understands how to prospect will tell you that quality is what matters – not quantity. You won’t be dialing numbers at random when you prospect professionally – you’ll be contacting well-researched organizations that you believe are likely to need what you have to offer.

· Myth 3: Prospecting takes too much time. What takes more time – doing the research up front to make sure that you are only contacting people who are likely to be glad to hear from you, or contacting people randomly and hoping that some percentage of them pan out? Sure, prospecting takes time. But it saves time in the long run – not to mention saving you frustration and energy as well!

· Myth 4: Prospecting is too hard. Why is prospecting ever perceived as being hard? Because of the attitude that we tend to have towards it. You’ll learn that prospecting done well is done from the attitude and position that you have something of value to offer in terms of the knowledge, expertise, products, and services that you are offering.

DOWNLOAD PPT

What is Marketing?

What is Marketing?

Definition

The management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. It includes the coordination of four elements called the 4 P's of marketing:

(1) identification, selection and development of a product,

(2) determination of its price,

(3) selection of a distribution channel to reach the customer's place, and

(4) development and implementation of a promotional strategy.

For example, new Apple products are developed to include improved applications and systems, are set at different prices depending on how much capability the customer desires, and are sold in places where other Apple products are sold.

A- Met Needs = good companies sell.

B- Unmet needs = Great companies sells.

Marketing is All about!

1- Public Relation

2- Sales Promotion

3- Advertising

4- Pricing

5- Distribution

6- Profit

Public Relation:

Public relations include ongoing activities to ensure the overall company has a strong public image. Public relations activities include helping the public to understand the company and its products.

How does it differ from advertising?

Public relations are the opposite of advertising. In advertising, you pay to have your message placed in a newspaper, TV or radio spot. In public relations, the article that features your company is not paid for. The reporter, whether broadcast or print, writes about or films your company as a result of information he or she received and researched.

Sales Promotion

Sales promotion aims to provide a short-term boost to sales. Sales promotion looks for alternatives that are more cost-effective - costing less to implement but providing a bigger increase in sales.

There are two basic types of sales promotions

1. Trade Promotions: The schemes, discounts, freebies, commissions and incentives given to the trade (retailers, wholesalers, distributors.) to stock more, push more and hence sell more of a product come under trade promotion.

2. Consumer sales promotions: are advertised in public media to attract consumer’s attention, this schemes are floated mostly in festival times, like EID days New year’s or Christmas.

Advertising

Advertising is a means of communication with the users of a product or service. In today's world, advertising uses every possible media to get its message through.

1. Television

2. Print (newspapers, magazines, journals etc)

3. Radio

4. Press

5. Internet (Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram, Linked in ….)

6. Direct selling

7. Billboards

8. Mailers

9. Sponsorships

10. Posters

11. Clothes

12. Colors

13. visuals and even people.

Pricing

Pricing is the process whereby a business sets the price at which it will sell its products and

services. Pricing is a fundamental aspect of seven Ps of the marketing mix.

A. Efficient price is a price that is very close to the maximum that customers are prepared to pay

B. Objectives of Pricing

To achieve the financial goals of the company (i.e. profitability)

To fit the realities of the marketplace (will customers buy at that price?)

Distribution

Distribution channels in marketing are one of the element of “7 Ps of marketing mix” placement (distribution). It helps the companies to expand its reach and grow its revenue.

Types of Distribution.

1. Business-to-business (B2B) distribution: occurs between a producer and industrial users of raw materials needed for the manufacturer of finished products.

2. Business-to-customer (B2C) distribution: occurs between the producer and the final user.

B2B and B2C, Companies can sell through a single distribution channel or through multiple channels that may include:

– Wholesaler/Distributor

– Direct/Internet

– Direct/Sales Team

– Consultant

– Dealer

– Retail

– Sales Agent/Manufacturer’s Representatives

Profit

A financial gain, especially the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying, operating, or producing something.

This simple statement is often expressed as the profit identity, which states that