Pinpointing Prospects for Industrial Sales

The primary job of sales management is to get the salesman to the right place, at the right time, and with the right information to make a sale. In marketing industrial goods, what is the “right place?”

This article describes an organized research approach to determine new prospects for an industrial firm. It is based on use of the Standard Industrial Classification System to predetermine those industrial firms that afford the greatest potential of becoming future customers.

Four different methods of determining new industrial prospects are described; industrial directories, surveys, trade-show attendance lists, and promotional inquiries.