1. What methods sho beyond those prov 2. How should Collee and those she gen. prospect? 3. How should Collee 4. What information dialogue with a pr 5. Colleen used Linke it in her strategic Linkedin? C olleen King graduated from Memorial Univer- DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC PROSPECTING PLAN Background sity and was hired as a sales representative for the Connector Company. The Connector Company is a transportation broker that links companies needing products shipped with trucking firms to carry the shipments. After an initial training pro- gram, Colleen was given a couple of existing company customers and a small list of leads to get her started. She began by serving the shipment needs of the exist- ing customers. This gave her some confidence, but she realized that for her to be successful, she must begin prospecting and try to identify the best sales opportuni- ties. The Connector Company provides an ongoing list of leads that can be accessed by all salespeople. Once a salesperson contacts one of these leads, no other sales- person can contact them.Colleen started her prospect- ing by contacting these leads. Role Play Situation: Read cas Characters: Collee Scene: Colleen has and been very succe the past two month her what she is doin cess is due to spend tunities. He wants to and sets up a meeti Location --Sales ma Current Situation Action- Role playt ager. The sales man respond to these qy to Colleen and noc using LinkedIn, so role play. Colleen has been calling a number of leads each day, but has not been very successful in generating much business. She feels like she is wasting much of her time on leads that are not good sales oppor- tunities. The leads provided by her company are not qualified in any way and the training program she attended focused on cold calling as the basic prospecting method. Colleen took a professional selling class in university and remembered that the chapter on prospecting emphasized the need to follow the strategic prospecting process to identify the best sales opportunities. She found her professional selling textbook , went to the chapter on prospecting, and decided to create a strategic prospecting plan. Ba Questions 1. What methods should Colleen use to generate sales leads beyond those provided by her company? Prest the a ter Fred man bec mar this of X a w 2. How should Colleen qualify the leads provided by her company and those she generates herself? What is the profile of an idea prospect? I Univer- 3. How should Colleen prioritize her qualified prospects? 4. What information should Colleen collect to prepare for sales tative dialogue with a prospect? nector 5. Colleen used Linkedin during university and wanted to employ mat links it in her strategic prospecting process. How can she best use Linkedin? king ning pro- mpany Role Play rted. e exist- Situation: Read case and prepare a strategic prospecting plan. ut she Characters: Colleen and her sales manager. egin portuni- Scene: Colleen has implemented her strategic prospecting plan and been very successful. She has been the top seller in her office for mg list the past two months. Her sales manager is impressed and he asks Once a her what she is doing to be so successful. She indicates that her suc- r sales- cess is due to spending most of her time with the best sales oppor- tunities. He wants to talk to her about her strategic prospecting plan ospect- and sets up a meeting. Location-Sales manager's office. any ex! ne C th . th Action- Role play the meeting between Colleen and her sales man- ager . The sales manager should ask many questions and Colleen will respond to these questions. The use of Linkedin has been valuable to Colleen and no other salespeople at the Connector Company are using Linkedin, so make sure the role of LinkedIn is included in the s not Slike she 5 oppor- d in any role play. calling I selling pecting