Prospecting is a marketing task that involves searching, approaching and reaching out to individuals and corporate entities for the purpose of selling products and services and establishing business relationships.
At some point in my career as a Marketer, I asked myself if prospecting is still needful in this internet age where new social media marketing, email marketing and search engine marketing have become prominent.
In developed countries, social media marketing, search engine and email marketing may have prevailed over prospecting though this will largely depend on the type of products being offered to the market.
In B2B marketing, companies can use e-mail or cold calling to reach their customers but not in all situations, for example e-mail marketing is ideal for clients you have personally met and exchanged contact with or when a cordial business relationship has already been established.
e-mail marketing is best:
- When the product you’re marketing doesn’t involve technical set up
- When the product is B2C i.e business to consumer
- When there is an existing business relationship
- When the products does not need demonstration, installation, training and after sales services
- When the products is easy to use and can be demonstrated using YouTube
- When the products are informational such as e-books,
It is true that e-mail marketing and social media marketing can be used to perform most of the marketing task, of course a client can watch sales demo via YouTube on how to install and use a product but this is not applicable to every product. For a product like projectors, interactive board, cars etc it may be easy to watch the video and learn how to use them but not on high technical products like industrial machines etc.
In my opinion I think prospecting is still very needful in marketing in the sense that it enable marketers relate to clients on the products and services they offer and help as a reliable source of information to the organization. There is a face to face interaction and this gives customers whether new or old confidence in the products they are buying or the service that are being rendered.
In many instances, through the sales rep approach, appearance and presentation could trigger sales.
From experience, the presence of the sales person can act as a quick reminder to a client for the need to place order, clarify issues or solve problems.
In the course of prospecting, one of the companies I visited had earlier purchased a product from the company I was working for, though this was before I joined the company. When I visited this client, the product was due for servicing but they couldn’t contact us because our contact had been misplaced. Going to the client’s office on that day was a great way to reconnect.
Another important aspect of a salesman is their ambassadorship position for any company they represent. They are well knowledgeable about their company’s products and services; they speak on behalf of their company in crucial matters like sales, negotiation and objection handling. In many cases, they act as a mediator between clients and company, that’s why multinational companies hold to a high esteem their salesmen.
The need for salesmanship in organizations is still crucial for companies that know their worth. Though it is a traditional system of marketing, it can be done in a better way by combining social media marketing; this will give your salesmen an edge to compete in global market.
