Prospect Evaluation | The Learning Project 40/365
7 September 2020 — Real Life Observation
Yesterday I mentioned about my experience from Home decor shopping spree. Today I would like to tell you my observation on how these vendors were evaluating us as a customer while we were evaluating them as vendors.
Every business owner looks for a big-ticket size customer. For B2B business it is a comparatively easier job as we can look at the company profile and judge the potential. Most of the information is available online hence becomes an easier task.
But how to evaluate an unknown customer who lands up in your shop on a busy day? Below are the areas to find about the prospect:
1. What are you looking for?
It is an obvious question but I thought to keep it as you should not feel that I don't know the basics 😐. Well coming back to it, one should always be clear that are they coming for a reason or for window shopping as then you can decide how much time and attention they can be given.
In case they are window shoppers, then they can be future prospects hence make sure their store experience is good.
2. Where are you from and more details?
It is important to know the background of the buyer. This helps to use our knowledge to give them a customised product offering. In our case, the shopkeepers were asking us the area we live in and all.
3. Where did you get to know about us from?
This is the most ignored question but helps a lot while evaluating the prospect. As I mentioned in my last blog that we went to the shops which were recommended to us by our circle of friends. So whenever we visited we let the shop owners know about it. That actually made them interested too.
The reason being they knew the customers and their ticket size and hence they kept us in the same bracket. Also, we visited shops in nearby town too those vendors wanted to foray in a new market. What best then customers flocking to them from that market?
Knowing where the prospect discovered us helps a lot in defining how to approach them. That is why we should have a different blueprint of Sales Strategy when approaching a cold lead vs a referred lead.
4. Understanding their requirement
BANT which stands for Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline. Though now there are new versions of the concept but BANT remains the most authentic and industry-agnostic approach.
To my surprise, these shop owners did not care about our budget and started showing a variety of catalogues. Once they understood our taste they started showing more of those range lookalike. When we mentioned budget they mentioned that they will give a discount. It made me wonder the reason but it can COVID effect. What do you think?
In our first visit, it was mostly me and siblings use to visit and in second visit my father accompanies us, which clarifies the Authority part. As in the second visit everything would be finalised. If a person is talking each length and breadth of the contract that gives an indication that either that person is the authority or next to authority and major influencer.
To understand the need the smartest vendor visited our site the next day itself and evaluated it thoroughly by taking all necessary and unnecessary measurements. After that, he followed up on a continuous basis.
This smartest of the lot vendor spoke to the referral POC and understood from my dad the date when we plan to shift. That must have been another validator for strong follow up.
I am learning a new way and minute details of the sales process from this experience. Since I come from a marketing background that too B2B space where Sales is hero, I am able to understand now how it is to operate in a fiercely competitive market.
Tomorrow I would like to tell you the winner of this Home decor project and reasons for his win.
I hope you are liking this shopping series. To be honest, I had lost all my interest from last 2 weeks but this experience is now making me regain my curiosity. Do share your thoughts and learnings with me. Would love to hear from you.
