The Prospecting Process at Pocatello Television Channel 8

This activity is important because organizations should understand how each step of the prospecting process works in order to make it more efficient. Sarah recently joined a local television station in Pocatello, Idaho, as their Director of Sales. From her industry experience, Sarah knows the process begins with lead generation. As not all leads are created equal, salespeople must prioritize the leads and then qualify them to determine which are actual sales prospects. From there, to ensure effective time management, salespeople should prioritize their prospects based on importance. Last, once they have a list of prospects that are ranked by importance, salespeople should plan callstaking the necessary steps to ensure they are prepared to meet with the sales prospects. Sarah has asked for an update on what each of her salespeople are currently doing, and she has to figure out which step of the process they are currently at.

The goal of this exercise is to select which step in the prospecting process each of the station's eight targeted accounts are currently at to decide how best to proceed over the next couple of weeks.

Identify correct step in the prospecting process (Lead Generation, Prioritize Leads, Prioritize Prospects, Lead Qualification) for each description of targeted prospects.

1. Hunter Agri has been identified as having organizational demographics that are similar in nature to other agri firms who currently purchase ads from the station.

2. Draper Car Wash has initiated discussions with the station based on the reference of a colleague in town.

3. Greer Records has shown to be a transactional buyer, but also one very interested and capable of making significant ad purchases.

4. Howard Brothers Florist is listed as a "cold lead" that has not yet shown an interest in local television advertising.

5. Wood Electric has been ranked by one salesperson as the most likely new business win in the next quarter.

6. The salesperson for Hicks Western Wear has identified that Larry Hicks is the decision maker and the person capable of making the advertising decisions.

7. Heffernan Dry Cleaners is expanding to more locations and seems to have the potential to need television ads in the near future.

8. The salesperson for Morant Motors has noted that they fit an ideal customer profile for ad sales in the car industry.