Sales Prospecting Training | 4 Guidelines for Understanding the Types of Prospective Client You Migh

Known need, willing to talk. This person typically calls and requests a meeting. He might already have a specific need or solution in mind. Prospects with known needs who are willing to talk might be calling numerous suppliers and they could be price buyers.

Known need, unwilling to talk. In this scenario, we typically have learned about the prospect’s need from someone else. However, he is unwilling to talk to us because he had a previous negative experience with our company or a positive experience with our competitor. In some cases, he might not want to acknowledge the need because it requires some kind of change. In this case, it’s even more important to stand out from the crowd. We must have enough pre-approach sales information to talk in terms of his needs and wants and, hopefully, encourage meaningful conversation.

Unknown need, don’t allow if willing/not willing to talk. These prospects are perhaps the most challenging for salespeople. Many times, it’s our own insight and experience that help us recognize a need, but we have difficulty getting the prospect to explore that need. The good news is, if we do succeed at building a relationship with this person, he typically becomes a loyal customer who also sends us referrals. Again, pre-approach sales information is essential in developing an initial communication that gains his attention.

No need, willing to talk. Prospects with these characteristics are usually warm and friendly. They are always open to see us and typically engage in comfortable discussion. The danger: We enjoy the warm atmosphere so much that we spend our time with people who won’t ever need our products and services. That’s not to say we shouldn’t be cordial. But we should be careful in spending time with prospects who have no possibility of becoming customers.

Later in the selling process, there’s an element called opportunity analysis. It’s important not to confuse this with prospect qualification. The difference: When we qualify prospects during pre-approach, we are merely trying to determine if they have the potential to do business with us. On the other hand, in opportunity analysis, we are prioritizing prospects in terms of when we should pursue doing business with them. Both activities are important elements of a successful sales process.