Prospect sheet - definition, blank example pdf

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True source of information, the prospect sheet includes the customer data necessary for the success of the commercial prospecting. It allows the company to save considerable time and facilitate the sales cycle - it is therefore a crucial tool in the deployment of an effective marketing strategy and the growth in turnover.

What is a lead sheet?

Essential step in the prospecting, the lead sheet allows salespeople to collect contact details and other information important to maintenance of a good relationship with customer potential. Each salesperson must therefore be equipped to bring their prospects to the signing a sale. 

What is a lead sheet?

By definition, the lead sheet brings together contact details prospects (their telephone number, in the context of cold calling prospecting; their email address or their LinkedIn, in the context of prospecting via the Internet...) and is used to implement the marketing strategy of the company. It is also A database fundamental to the use of a CRM software to boost the company's performance and increase its commercial activity.

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What is the difference between lead sheet and prospecting file

What differentiates these two commercial tools, it is above all their size and nature: the prospect sheet contains data specific to a potential customer, while the lead file contains the Prospect sheets. The latter is, by definition, a set of information on target customers, classified according to certain criteria such as their profile or their situation in the sales cycle. The prospect file can be: constituted internally, based on the data collected at the time of prospecting, or externally, by simply buying it from another company with a relatively similar target customer base, to get qualified leads.

Advantages of the lead sheet

Les The advantages of the lead sheet are numerous, contrary to its disadvantages, and that is why we strongly recommend that you integrate it into your commercial action plan. In fact, it allows you to:

• Identify qualified prospects and the target customers, keeping their contact data to be able to request them at any time, and by avoiding wasting time in sales cycles that drag on.
• Optimizing the marketing strategy and the sales pitch, by customizing the latter according to the customer and by adapting the offer.
• Develop a better commercial relationship with customers, by saving the history of exchanges (date, content...), facilitating the purchase process.

What should a lead sheet contain?

As you will have understood, a correctly completed lead sheet must include a certain number information about the potential customer, such as his info from contact, his info from qualification (especially in the context of a B2B sale) or even a few points on its Intent to buy and his expectations.

Where can I find a list of prospects?

To create a prospect file, you can first use CRM software. Today there are many tools that use social networks professionals like LinkedIn and their algorithm for identifying interesting prospects, according to the criteria that we have entered in advance. As mentioned before, it is also possible To buy lists of prospects directly to businesses: however, you must first ensure that they correspond at least to the target customers.

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How do you introduce a prospect?

There is no universal model for presenting a prospect, however, it is necessary to include a certain number ofinformations allowing to facilitate exchanges and grouping together all the elements on its identity. You must thus be able to find your name and surname, your email address and postal address, your telephone number and your professional situation: if it is a B2B contact, you will have to enter his job title but also the company for which he works. The sector of activity, the seniority of the company and its website are also important elements that must appear in the prospect sheet of a potential customer.

The different types of interesting data

In addition to these initial data, other types of information are also added: qualification information, transaction history and some comments on the behavior of the prospect.

Qualification information Concerns all criteria allowing to determine that a Prospect corresponds to the ICP, namely the size of its company, the tools it uses or even its turnover (in a B2B context), or some socio-demographic information on interests and consumption habits (in a B2C framework).

Transaction history is similar to all of exchanges between the prospect and the company : the date of the first contact or the first purchase (if he is already a customer), where he is located in the sales funnel...

Finally, a few comments on the behavior of the prospect may appear in his sheet. These allow you to bring Insights on its purchasing intentions and how he reacted to previous contacts.

How do I get the information on my lead sheet?

All of this commercial information can be obtained in various ways. First, via the direct prospecting : by approaching prospects by call, by email, via social networks, during events and trade shows or in the field thanks to door to door, we can get their contacts and collect data keys to make up the file.

Then comes the indirect prospecting: the creation of qualitative content on the website can in particular encourage the prospect to subscribe to a newsletter or to fill in their contact details to download a brochure or any other commercial asset. So it's a good way to obtain your email address and identity, and thus create a prospect sheet for him to contact him again in the future.

Tips for creating an effective lead file

Good prospecting lies above all in a well-organized and well-maintained prospect file. To do this, we have listed some tips and key points to remain effective:

• Ensuring the quality of the data. These should be legible, complete, relevant, and available for use. You must therefore be rigorous when creating a new prospect sheet.
• Create an ICP is obviously essential in the prospecting process, but also makes it possible to ensure the qualification of prospects in the file. This makes it possible, subsequently, to sort the prospects according to their correspondence with the targeted clientele and the commercial strategy.
• Update the file regularly, contacts and the progress of cycles are also necessary to maintain a clear overview.
• Keep in mind the Data Management and Protection Regulations, whether it is a B2B or B2C framework, to comply with laws on the consent of the prospect regarding the use and retention of their personal and professional data.

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The tools to use to create a prospect sheet

Depending on your needs, it is entirely possible to create a lead sheet from A to Z using office tools such as Excel and Word — this allows you to fully customize the different categories according to the information to be collected — or to use a predefined template. Indeed, there are multiple B2B or B2C lead sheet templates on the web that you can download and modify as you wish.

The followers CRM tools will find their happiness more in a pipeline management software allowing them to process a larger volume of data in a secure way and to share the file thus created with their entire team. This software is also equipped with additional services allowing in particular: to analyze the performance of prospecting and to provide advice to optimize its effectiveness.

3 examples of quality lead sheets

Among these CRM software, we find in particular Hubspot, Pipedrive, and Salesforce — ergonomic and easy to use, they are very useful for everything commercial prospecting project in that they simplify the writing of the lead sheet and the management of the various pipelines.

Example 1 - Hubspot lead sheet

This prospecting tool is very useful for collect all the information of a prospect, to have access to it in real time, plan actions such as emails or appointments and easily apply your commercial strategy: customer information is on the left of the screen while the history of interactions and possible documents are in the center and on the right, allowing you to keep a global view of each sheet.

Example 2 - Pipedrive lead sheet

Above all, Pipedrive plugs allow the sales pipeline management, in that they propose to create a contact, to fill in your data, to provide tracking information on the actions put in place (calls, emails, offers...) and to add any comments on theEvolution of the cycle. Their minimalist design is easy to handle and allows you to keep an eye on all exchanges with the prospect.

Example 3 - Salesforce lead sheet

Contrary to the examples mentioned above, Salesforces sheets seem less ergonomic at first glance but are nonetheless complete. Operating using a chronological timeline, they also allow you to return all commercial actions implemented since the first contact with the prospect. Again, it is possible to add reviews and information relating to a profile or turnover goals to be achieved.

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