Prospecting in 5 Easy Steps —Farquharson/Tedesco

Consider the market research and prospect qualification activities described earlier. This work is necessary for kick-starting the sales process—you can't sell to a company if you can't identify their key business influencers and what they need.

Tele-prospecting is tedious, time-consuming and perhaps not the most efficient use of well-compensated sales resources. A company's sales leaders should concentrate their attention on what they do best: converting qualified prospects into high-margin customers. The opportunity cost of using your expensive salespeople for "high-in-the-sales-funnel" suspect-to-prospect research activities may not make financial sense.