What Makes a Pretty Good Prospect?

I was thinking today about the details and efforts that go into identifying a Pretty Good Prospect, which will be known from here forward as a PGP.

A PGP is someone or a company who obviously "fits" into the target market of the product or service you are selling. This also ties into managing your time effectively, but we'll save that for another day. If they aren't in the target market, they probably won't listen, won't buy and won't make you any money either. Don't try to sell icecubes in the NorthPole.

When I identify a good prospect from scratch (no list or contact):

• I look at VC newsletters
• I look at the PGP's 10K if public.
• I look at their Careers page to see if they are hiring
• I look at what departments are hiring
• I look at revenues annually
• I ask my colleagues about them to see if anyone has sold to them before
• I check online resources like Google, Yahoo, Zaba, Hoovers and OneSource
• I check to make sure that in third party newgroups there isn't a reason posted for me to not engage them...ie "they are in bankruptcy" or some other extenuating factors
• I check the message board on Yahoo finance if public

When I am filtering web leads that come to my homepage, there are "gates" I need to put in place to get a more defined, quality PGP lead such as:

• Company name
• Employee count
• Annual revenues
• Contact info ie first, last, email, phone, job function, department
• Company website
• Industry
• Where did they here about us

When I have a list or contact it is still somewhat tactical, but more strategic:

• I think about how to triangulate in a PGP to make sure I have investment from the PGP internally
• I check to make sure they are the correct contact and what their "rank" is politically within the organization.
• I try to learn and have an Understanding of what drives interest in the PGP
• I ask what was the last product they implemented
• I make sure that I have a thorough 360° understanding of the PGP's business proposition; what do they do, how does that benefit their customers, what is their average sale, how many employees do they have, what is their rank in their industry, who are their competitors, are any of their competitors already a customer of mine, Do we share VC's, and lastly, Do we share any partnerships?
• I have a definite use in mind for the PGP for my product in terms of what pain I think it could solve; I have a game plan for penetrating the PGP

Some final nuggets:

• If you can't see a fit for what you are selling to your current PGP, you must look elsewhere to sell it as they won't see a fit either. This will be evident as you won't have the passion and sense of urgency in your demeanor (over the phone or in person) to sell it.
• Don't waste your time with companies that aren't a good target, even if they are inbound or a referral; Yes contact those, but keep in mind that there are far more companies out there that will be PGP's and you can feel at ease to simply move on to the next one you feel will be a good target

Finally, I have started a Yahoo! Group as a sales resource.

Check it out at: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/trialclosesaleshelp/

Make it a great evening!

Mike