of marketing objective you would develop. All objectives should be quantifi-
able. This means they must be measurable for purposes of evaluation. Mea-
surement criteria should also be specified, such as identifying and contacting
so many new prospects per month. Objectives should also be realistically
grounded, while at the same time motivating you. They should not be so
grand that there would be little probability of achieving them. They should
be time specific. Without a beginning and an end the objectives will be of lit-
tle value. And they should be put in hierarchical order. If more than one ob-
jective is needed, rank them in terms of importance so you will be clear
about how you will set your priorities.
Once you’ve identified prospects you want to contact, classify and
record them according to categories that are meaningful to you. For profes-
sionals, you could divide them by doctors, lawyers, architects, and so on.
For centers of influence, there would be accountants, attorneys, and
bankers. For niche market business prospects, there would be subdivisions
for each target market that your products, services, or opportunity might
appeal to.
To assist you with implementing this, design what I call a “Prospect
Data Sheet.” It will include pertinent data, such as the prospect’s name, com-
pany name, address, phone and fax numbers, e-mail address, type of prospect,
and a record of the actions you have taken, with dates, and the actions you
intend to take. Moving forward in your business requires creative prospecting
and a comprehensive prospecting plan. If you have a plan and you work the
plan, you’ll have an unending flow of qualified prospects and a consistently
growing organization.
Dr. Tony Alessandra, PhD, CSP, CPAE, helps companies build customers, re-
lationships, and the bottom line. Companies learn how to achieve market
dominance through specific strategies designed to outmarket, outsell, and
outservice the competition by applying his marketing, sales, service, and rela-
tionship-building skills. He offers practical ideas that produce profitable bot-
tom-line results.
Tony has a street-wise, college-smart perspective on business, having
fought his way out of New York City to eventually realize success as a graduate
professor of marketing, an entrepreneur, a business author, and a keynote
speaker. He earned his MBA in 1970 from the University of Connecticut, and
his PhD in marketing in 1976 from Georgia State University.
He is the founder and president of Online Assessments, a company that
offers numerous online multirater assessments on a powerful technology
platform; chairman of the board of BrainX, a company that offers digital
Prospecting and Creating High Visibility to Attract Business Builders 199