The importance of prospecting can hardly be ignored in the modern day business world since it is the method of locating prospective buyers. Moreover, it also serves as the basis in determining the ultimate success of the salesman.
A good salesman, in fact, is constantly on the lookout for the prospects whom he can convert into buyers.
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For doing so, the salesman needs prospecting on a continious basis. Otherwise, he cannot be successful in achieving the sales targets. The salesman has to develop an effective plan of prospecting for increasing the sales volume of the organisation. Since the manufacturer always produces goods in anticipation of demand, the salesman is required to create, maintain and extend the demand for the products on a continious basis.
The promotional and the pioneer salesmen are usually given the responsibility of selling new products and services. In accomplishing such an objective, they depend heavily upon prospecting. Even for the manufacturer’s salesman, building up new clientele depends largely upon successful prospecting.
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Thus, prospecting is beneficial, both for the organisation as well as the salesmen. Successful prospecting results in enhanced sales for the organisation, on the one hand and incremental commission for the sales force, on the other.
An efficient salesman is never satisfied with the existing customer base. He is always on the lookout for new prospects who can be persuaded to buy. As long as the process of prospecting remains successful, the salesman is in a position to keep the sales volume of the organisation ticking. It is needless to say that the success or failure of the firm depends a lot on the prospecting ability of its sales force.
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As pointed out by an expert, prospecting is not a wild goose chase. A systematic search has to be made for the prospective buyers through proper scanning and screening by the salesman. A lot of time and energy can be saved by calling only those prospects who are most likely customers. The salesman should try to avoid suspects who are the most unlikely customers.
In other words, the persons to whom there is the least chance of selling are known as suspects. Therefore, successful prospecting enables a salesman to concentrate his sales efforts on prospects exclusively and avoid suspects as far as possible.
Prospecting, more or less, reflects the philosophy that if the mountain does not come to Prophet Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain. In the present era of fast innovations and evolutions of products and services, buyers most often remain unaware and indifferent to the new products and services.
Organisations intending to sell such products and services, therefore, need aggressive prospecting in order to find out the potential buyers who are scattered through the length and breadth of the country. Therefore, most modern products and services can reach the customers only through systematic and planned prospecting system adopted by the organisation.
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For certain type of products and services, like consumer durables, specialties which are not purchased frequently and having high unit value, prospecting is highly essential. Once a purchase is made, all is forgotten for a number of years.
In such cases, regular prospecting is needed so as to make the product, its services and the firm’s name constantly alive in the minds of the customers. Whenever the need for fresh purchases arises in the minds of the buyers, presence of regular prospecting helps the organisation in clinching new sales.