Sales Team Draws Information out of Prospects
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PROBLEM:
A key to System Sensor’s mission of providing world-class fire detection and notification systems is understanding its customers and their needs. Toward that goal, management wanted to proactively pursue sales leads to know exactly what customers require, fulfill information requests more efficiently and provide better direction to sales representatives.
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SOLUTION:
Interline Creative Group put together a multifaceted program to obtain feedback from professionals inquiring about System Sensor’s fireand life-safety products. Interline researchers developed a questionnaire for surveying professionals who request more information from System Sensor through its Web site or trade magazines. This questionnaire guides Interline salespeople/phone researchers in making first contact with these sales prospects—first by phone, and secondarily by e-mail. Interline sales pre-qualifiers solicit feedback—on and off the survey script—about project interest, product familiarity and competitive comparisons. Openended questions encourage and elicit insightful comments. Interview results are turned over weekly to Interline’s fulfillment department to send appropriate literature.
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RESULT:
Interline database administrators maintain detailed, updated sales lead records. Comprehensive lead tracking and surveying provides important feedback about sales opportunities, problems encountered in the field, suggestions for product and service improvements, and additional information needs. By prequalifying sales prospects, Interline more quickly identifies problems and prioritizes leads for sales representatives. Just as importantly, the unduplicated market intelligence has given System Sensor a more acute sense of what it can do to better satisfy its customers, and information gleaned from interviews has fed other sales and marketing initiatives.
