I'm teaching two MBA classes at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business this fall. One class is in International Marketing, the other in Internet Marketing.

I will be requiring students in each course to complete a comprehensive study and list of recommendations for a real business or not-for-profit. I believe there will be approximately 8 plans created in each class. I'm expecting a high level of quality from the plans. I would estimate that if I were creating one of these plans professionally, it would cost the recipient between $10,000 - $15,000.

Who do I sell to?

My marketing study says that my target market is roofing businesses
withing a 2-hour drive of downtown Chicago. How do I get the names of
those businesses so I can call
them?

Terminology

Before I launch into the how-to part, I thought best to clarify some terms that come up a lot when discussing sales.

Most sales folk refer to the people they sell to as their
"prospects". Those with a bit more experience in sales segment
prospects into "qualified prospects" and "suspects", where a suspect is
unqualified in terms of decision-making authority, timeframe, budget
and needs and the qualified prospect is.

I like the way my friend Pauline O'Malley of The RevenueBuilder refers to sales prospects "Customers-to-Be". It's so much more positive and personal.