The Importance of Prospecting

Before i cracked open page 38 of David Mattson’s The Sandler Rules, I had not heard of prospecting in the sales role. Prospecting is the set of activities used for figuring out if the person is a potential customer. David Mattson stresses that this is all that prospecting is, nothing more. Page 43 states, “Prospecting takes place before, and leads, to, the selling process. It is not selling. It is a time to discuss features and benefits, technical aspects, advantages and disadvantages, pricing, delivery, or and other “selling” points about your product or service.” While I was a sales associate it Sears Outlet LLC. I personally failed to distinguish who the potential buyers and prospects were until a few months before I left. One main sign of a prospect was they would spend a longer amount of time in the store than the potential buyer and always either had a magazine or some other type of packet of information that they had come into the store with. The buyer would usually just ask questions and within a half hour they would be on their way with their new machine. The Sandler Rules teaches readers that anyone, and they mean anyone, could be a potential prospect. From fellow colleagues at your daughters soccer game to strangers sitting on the bus next to you, anyone is able to a prospect if you simply just ask. Prospecting is not selling, therefore you are not asking the person on the bus to buy your product, you are simply asking questions related to the what the person thinks about the product. This is also a great way to obtain information about the product or service that otherwise might go unmentioned if you had not asked. The Sandler Rule number 9 is “Every Unsuccessful prospecting call earns compound interest”, this could not be more true. Time is something that the saleswoman or man has to their advantage, in most cases. The most important thing that David Mattson teaches us is that Prospecting is not selling, as sales people, we must keep this in mind.