Why Is Sales Prospecting Necessary?
Listing promising companies as sales prospects leads to further efficiency in sales activities. Specifically, you can gain three main benefits.
Efficient Sales Activities
By gathering detailed information on promising companies, managing it centrally with IT tools, and sharing it across the entire sales department, each sales representative can easily search and view the data. This makes it easier to determine which companies to approach, when, and how.
Naturally, the more accurate and fresh the information on the listed companies, the higher the sales efficiency. By establishing such a prospecting environment, you can maintain a state where challenges like "cannot find prospects" or "cannot think of an approach method" are less likely to occur.
Useful for Upselling and Cross-selling
Sales prospecting is also useful for upselling and cross-selling. Both methods aim to increase the average customer transaction value.
In upselling, you propose higher-tier products to customers considering a purchase or those already under contract. In cross-selling, you recommend other products alongside a specific item. Products recommended via cross-selling are generally those that are convenient to use in combination with the product the customer is currently considering, or other items the customer has shown interest in.
By clearly noting the purchase history and anticipated needs of promising customers on your sales list, you can easily practice upselling and cross-selling tailored to each company's situation. Consistently performing beneficial upselling and cross-selling can be expected to increase the number of repeat customers.
Leads to Improved Customer Satisfaction
It is important to keep customer needs updated and detailed within your sales list. This allows you to propose the products and services customers want at the appropriate time, leading not only to direct sales growth but also to improved customer satisfaction.
Furthermore, by sharing listed customer information centrally across the sales department, you create an environment where everyone can efficiently collect sales-related information. This allows for more attentive sales efforts for each customer with more time to spare. Naturally, it also prevents troubles such as duplicate approaches to the same company. Overall, these benefits lead to higher customer satisfaction.
Steps for Creating a Sales List
Here, we explain the basic steps for prospecting, divided into four parts.
Step 1 is data analysis. Analyze existing customer information in detail to understand the current situation: "What kind of customers use our products or services, and in what situations?"
Step 2 is segmenting the customer list. Create groups based on attributes such as industry or location and assign customers to these groups. Then, analyze how much of each product is purchased or used by each group. This allows you to predict common needs and future market attractiveness for each group.
Step 3 is setting targets. Based on Step 2, pick out the groups that are suitable as your main targets from the segmented customer groups, such as "customer groups with high purchase rates or high purchase prices."
Step 4 is customer scoring. Assign scores based on attributes and behaviors for each "customer company" or "individual belonging to a customer company." For example, set scores such as "Company size of 1,000+ employees: +20" or "Spontaneous material request: +10."
Calculate the total score for each customer within the target group, and list those whose total exceeds a certain threshold as "promising customers."
Points for Achieving Results in Sales Prospecting
Furthermore, to practice prospecting that leads to steady results and to reap those benefits in actual sales, please keep the following three points in mind.
Formulate Hypotheses on Whether Needs Exist
When prospecting, it is important to formulate hypotheses regarding customer needs and budget settings.
For example, suppose your company provides a "service that undertakes basic training for new graduates." In this case, investigate whether the customer company is hiring new graduates. You might check the company's official website for new graduate job postings or search for the company on job sites dedicated to new graduates. If the listed company is hiring new graduates, you can anticipate that they have the needs and budget for your service.
Continue to Expand the List
Do not stop after prospecting just once. Continue to increase the number of customers on your sales list daily. Search for companies that have contact with your firm or those whose needs match your products. For example, by analyzing access to your company website, you can identify companies that have visited. Adding these company names to your sales list allows you to expand it.
Continue Updating and Managing the List
Continuing to update and manage the list is also an important point. In addition to segmentation and scoring, keep updating more dynamic information to maintain a sufficient volume of data.
For example, when you approach a prospect, record the results in that company's entry to add information such as "current relationship with our company" or "products currently needed or not needed." This leads to smoother improvements in the timing and method of future approaches, enhancing the quality of your sales.
