To what extent does the home page request information to ascertain whether or not the respondent is a good prospect? In other words, if you contacted one of these sites, would it know whether you have the ability to pay, the authority to buy, a need the company can satisfy, and so on?
In general, how effective is the home page in generating your interest as a potential prospect? How would you make it more effective?
One way to prospect is to engage in cold calls by using the cold canvass method. Some people use Internet Listservs or newsgroups to try to discover prospects. This approach is usually indirect: The salesperson subscribes to the group and then posts a message that includes some information about the product and how the sales person can be contacted.
Assume you are a salesperson in one of the three situations in question 10 in the "Questions and Problems" section (see page 192 of the text).
Can you identify newsgroups or Listservs that would reach a sizable group of leads?
Write a message that you could post to generate interest in your product of service. Note: You are not being asked to actually subscribe and post the message.
