Prospect management

As far as the art and science of marketing go, effective prospect management is arguably the simplest and most powerful strategy of all.

What is “prospect management”?

Effective prospect management can be described as all the activities that lead to increased sales and customer satisfaction.

Think of it as your first date with a customer. It will define their view of your business forever.

A “prospect” is a person (who is not currently a customer) who contacted your business through any channel to enquire about your products or services. Treat prospects like your most important client, because they might become exactly that: if not as individuals, then certainly as a group.

“Management” is the recording and reporting of significant moments in the relationship between you and a prospect, followed by timely and effective action on the recorded information.

Getting started with effective prospect management

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure” is a cliché. It’s a cliché because it is often repeated, and it’s often repeated because it is true.

With that, here is our quick-start guide to effective prospect management.

First, choose a tool to help you manage prospect information. You can use pen and paper or a spreadsheet, but tools made for the purpose can save a lot of time (and sales). Here are some tools to get you running immediately:

Common prospect management terms

An “agent” is any customer service representative or third-party communications contractor.

The “sales supervisor” is the agent in charge of sales performance management and reporting.

“Management” is the process of providing service to prospects with the aim of converting them into customers.

The “prospect list” is a formal list of all prospect contacts, recorded in the company CRM database or a shared spreadsheet.

Deploying a prospect management system in your business

An effective prospect management system brings efficiency, predictability and accountability to your organisation’s sales efforts, by making sure the right actions and engagements are thoughtfully planned and carried out on time.

Key performance standards

Define your own key performance standards and document them as a standard operating procedure. We recommend these at a minimum:

Acknowledge customer contact within 24 hours.
Satisfy all customer information requirements within 72 hours.
Record accurate customer interaction data for business intelligence and future follow-up.

Scope and audience

All customer service representatives and agents who handle first contact with a prospective new customer should be familiar with the prospect management standard operating procedure.

Prerequisites for agents

Good telephone and email communication skills in the languages your prospects prefer.
Training or skills to add information to the company CRM database or shared spreadsheet.

Responsibilities of agents

All client-facing agents should take responsibility for recording new prospect contacts and interactions.
The sales supervisor handles work delegation.
The assigned agent is responsible for contacting the prospect and managing the relationship from there.

The prospect management procedure

1. Record the new prospect

The first agent to help or interact with a new prospect should collect and record the prospect’s contact information, including the point of origin (or first contact) and what information the prospect is interested in, as soon as possible.

Recommended fields for the prospect list:

Contact: name, surname, email, phone
Source: website, Facebook, Twitter, direct call and so on
Interest: product information, quote, technical assistance and so on
Status: call (1), email (2), follow up (3), revive prospect (4), done (5)
Quote: amount quoted, unique quote ID (include a link to the document)
Sale: sale value, unique invoice ID (include a link to the document)

2. Assign

The sales supervisor routinely checks the prospect list and assigns an agent to contact new prospects where an action is pending.

3. Satisfy the information requirement

The attending agent calls the prospect to learn more about their information requirement, answers their questions, and thanks them for their time.

4. Send additional information

After the initial call, the attending agent sends an email that summarises the conversation and includes detailed information sources for further action.

5. Update the status

The attending agent updates the prospect’s status to the next phase of contact in the prospect list.

6. Send a follow-up email after 48 hours

The sales supervisor or agent follows up with the prospect after 48 hours with a courtesy note:

Hello #name#

This is a courtesy note to make sure you have all the information you requested. Please let me know if you need any further assistance.

Regards,
ABC Widgets
http://yourwebsite
+27 11 222 3333

7. Attempt to revive the prospect

If no response has been received after 72 hours, the attending agent should phone the prospect directly to:

Make sure the prospect’s information request was satisfied.
Find out how you can assist further.
Determine the reason (objection) preventing the prospect from doing business at this time.

Document the information gathered during this phase in the prospect list.

8. Review performance

Review the data monthly and identify areas for improvement, with the aim of increasing each agent’s sales performance and success rate.