Four Essential Things to Do When Planning for a Sales Call

Posted on 09/18/2018 in Sales Call Planning

Consider these two extremes: 1) A salesperson doesn't plan at all for an upcoming sales call; and, 2) A salesperson is required to fill out a lengthy pre-call planning form that attempts to address every possible contingency that might arise during the customer conversation.  

As a former sales manager, I'd prefer choice #2 over choice #1 because sales calls usually go poorly if a sales professional doesn't do any planning. However, choice #2 - what we'll call 'over planning,' for short, also has its downsides.  

As such, we at Peak Selling have developed a 1-page Pre-Call Sales Planning Form that addresses four essential things that should be considered when planning for a sales call:

  1. What are your goals and objectives for this customer? (goal is the long-term desired outcome, objective is what you want to accomplish on this sales call)
  2. What are the critical actions that you should take during the sales call? (beginning with how to open the sales call, then transition to questioning and presenting information)
  3. What are the likely objections and how will you respond?
  4. What follow up actions or next steps will you recommend?

All of the above four categories are important but if you had a very short amount of time and could only plan one thing, you should always do #1 - set clear goals and objectives for the sales call.  This allows you to stay focused during the call on what you need to accomplish to make it a successful sales call. To say it differently, when you set clear goals and objectives, you ensure that you are making purposeful sales calls.

If you'd like to receive the full-length Pre-Call Sales Planning Form, contact us and we will send it via email.