The first step in the salesperson's overview is:

The personal selling process is one of the most frequently examined topics in CBSE marketing chapters, and the sequence of steps must be memorised precisely because exam questions often ask for the 'first', 'last', or a specific intermediate step. Prospecting is definitively the first step because it answers the fundamental question: who should the salesperson even talk to? Without identifying potential customers, none of the subsequent steps — pre-approach research, initial contact, product presentation, or closing — can occur. A very common student mistake is answering 'pre-approach' as the first step, confusing it with prospecting. The distinction is clear: prospecting identifies who the prospects are, while pre-approach involves gathering detailed information about those already-identified prospects before making contact. Another error is listing 'approach' as the first step because it is the first moment of direct customer contact — but contact cannot happen until potential customers are identified through prospecting. In real-world sales organisations, prospecting quality directly determines revenue outcomes. Companies with rigorous prospecting systems — using criteria like budget, authority, need, and timeline (the BANT framework) — consistently outperform those that rely on random outreach. CBSE students should also know that prospecting sources include existing customers (referrals), trade directories, cold calling, and networking.