Chapter Case $5$Developing a Strategic Prospecting PlanBackgroundColleen King graduated from Memorial University and was hired as a sales representative for the Connector Company. The Connector Company is a transportation broker that links companies needing products shipped with trucking firms to carry the shipments. After an initial training program, Colleen was given a couple of existing company customers and a small list of leads to get her started. She began by serving the shipment needs of the existing customers. This gave her some confidence, but she realized that for her to be successful, she must begin prospecting and try to identify the best sales opportunities. The Connector Company provides an ongoing list of leads that can be accessed by all salespeople. Once a salesperson contacts one of these leads, no other salesperson can contact them. Colleen started her prospecting by contacting these leads.Current SituationColleen has been calling a number of leads each day, but has not been very successful in generating much business. She feels like she is wasting much of her time on leads that are not good sales opportunities. The leads provided by her company are not qualified in any way and the training program she attended focused on cold calling as the basic prospecting method. Colleen took a professional selling class in university and remembered that the chapter on prospecting emphasized the need to follow the strategic prospecting process to identify the best sales opportunities. She found her professional selling textbook, went to the chapter on prospecting, and decided to create a strategic prospecting plan.QuestionsWhat methods should Colleen use to generate sales leads beyond those provided by her company?How should Colleen qualify the leads provided by her company and those she generates herself? What is the profile of an ideal prospect?How should Colleen prioritize her qualified prospects?What information should Colleen collect to prepare for sales dialogue with a prospect?Colleen used LinkedIn during university and wanted to employ it in her strategic prospecting process. How can she best use LinkedIn?Role PlaySituation: Read case and prepare a strategic prospecting plan.Characters: Colleen and her sales manager.Scene: Colleen has implemented her strategic prospecting plan and been very successful. She has been the top seller in her office for the past two months. Her sales manager is impressed and he asks her what she is doing to be so successful. She indicates that her success is due to spending most of her time with the best sales opportunities. He wants to talk to her about her strategic prospecting plan and sets up a meeting.LocationSales managers office.ActionRole$-$play the meeting between Colleen and her sales manager. The sales manager should ask many questions and Colleen will respond to these questions. The use of LinkedIn has been valuable to Colleen and no other salespeople at the Connector Company are using LinkedIn, so make sure the role of LinkedIn is included in the role play.