Identifying who you’ll target is the first step, because you need potential customers to work with. After you’ve found and qualified these prospects, you gather information about them, plan your approach, and craft a tailored message—this is preparation. Finally, you make contact with the prospect using a chosen method (phone, email, in person), starting the actual sales conversation—this is the approach. This order makes sense because you can’t approach someone effectively without knowing who they are and what they might need, and you can’t tailor a connection without researching those prospects first. Jumping straight to the approach or presentation would be unfocused, and skipping prospecting means there’s no one to engage.