Sales prospecting defined - The search for new and qualified customers (Prospects).

Before discussing sales prospecting it should be noted what a prospect is in terms of sales and selling. A prospect is somebody that could buy the products or services that a salesperson is selling. A qualified prospect is somebody that has been targeted as the most likely to buy the products or services that a salesperson sells. A prospect could be qualified based on any number of factors. For example, it could be based on demographics, geographical location, income level, education level, gender, and dozens of more factors. And, it could be based on any one or any combination of these factors.

So sales prospecting is the targeting of "prospects" and the initial communications with them in the hopes that these communications will eventually lead to a closed sale and a new client or customer.

Prospecting is the first step of the sales process, the end of which, is a closed sale. It could also be considered the most time-consuming part of the sales process for a salesperson. Looking for new customers is a lot of work.

How do salespeople prospect for new customers? Normally, when someone mentions sales prospecting, the first image that comes to mind is the salesperson making cold calls. Cold calling is a method to prospect for new clients but it is not the only way. Salespeople have come up with creative prospecting methods over the years and just a few of these include business networking, personal advertising, internet marketing, and email prospecting.

Sales processing is the first step in the sales cycle. It may not be the most important step but without prospecting there may not be many closed sales.