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Customer Prospecting

Since your clients do not come to you, you have to go out and find them. Your first steps in identifying potential customers must come from prospecting.

Your sales success depends largely on how well you prospect and the variety of ways you prospect. You must keep yourself well supplied with people to call. An artful mix of prospecting will make you successful.

Your prospect must meet three basic qualifications.

1. The need for the service,
2. authority to make decisions,
3. most importantly, the ability to sign a check and the service agreement.

Cold Calls

Cold Calls in person are a highly effective method of prospecting, although most sales representatives would rather not do them. There are several major advantages to unannounced visits to your prospect's business location. You are able to evaluate the prospect's business first hand, enabling you to tailor the presentation to his or her specific needs. Your best results are very often face-to-face.
Cold calling will prevent the ups and downs that cut into your income. Here are a few tried and true rules that if followed will help increase the number of presentations you give:

• Assume that the person is in charge, "Are you the owner?"
• Clerks and secretaries can be sold on letting you talk to the decision maker if you sell them on the fact that what you wish to talk about is important.
• Try, "I have a situation and I wonder if you could help me?" Then ask "Who is the owner, president, etc., and is that person available?" This is a very effective way around screens.
• If you know the prospect's name, assume that you are expected, "Please tell Joe that Vic Right is here to see him." Be assertive, you must expect to get face-to-face. If you do not, you will not.

Once you get face-to-face:

• Question opener: "Would you like to increase your profits by 15% to 20%?"
• Benefit opener: "I have a service that can increase your profits."
• Story opener: People love a good story that relates to their type of business. If you have a story that solves a problem or helps increase business, your prospect will want to hear it. (Use the one on the first page.)
• Referral opener: "Mr. Johnson at Johnson's Hardware asked me to stop in and speak to you about..."

Direct Mail

You may want to consider using a direct mail piece to generate sales leads for yourself. The use of a direct mail piece has proven to be very successful in the payment service industry in general, and in the sale of Check Guarantee specifically. You should be able to close 50% of the merchants who respond to the mail piece.
Check with your service providers - they often have wonderful pieces that you can use free of charge.
You should remember that the lowest price is not the only thing that the "Analytical" will pay attention to, however, you must quantify the results of things like "more sales, fewer declines, No Fault Protection, or Bank Fees and Interest."

Telephone Prospecting

The person-to-person contact afforded by the telephone allows for interaction between you and the prospect, enabling you to qualify or reject them quickly.

• Identify yourself and your organization.
• Get interest through remarks that establish your credibility as a problem solver.
• Mention a specific product or service and applications that can help your prospect.
• Sell an appointment.
• Confirm that you are speaking with a decision maker.

Try these openings: "I've been assigned the responsibility of serving your account. I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and arrange an appointment to meet with you in person..." OR
"I recently received your name from my corporation printout of key accounts and was interested in learning more about your company (firm, store, etc.)." OR
"Are your presently using a check protection service?" OR
"I expect to be in your area on (Tuesday). Now Mr. Prospect I'd like to show you how my program will increase your profits. Is (Tuesday) good or would (Wednesday) be better?"

The PRO always keeps supplied with prospects. Your success depends upon the skills you develop as a prospector. Remember, in person cold calls have proven to be the most successful for the long term. Start looking for new prospects today, and if you never stop, neither will your income.

Good Selling!^SM
Paul H. Green

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