Focus on 3 Critical Actions Before Every Sales Call

Posted on 06/20/2016 in Selling Skills

Any pre-call planning procedure needs to be realistic. Because sales professionals are so busy, if your planning form or procedure is too long, then no one will use it. Pre Call Planning needs to capture the most critical things that need to be done before every sales call.

Avoid these two extremes when planning for a sales call: 

Wing it - don't bother planning at all. Winging it at a sales call is clearly no plan at all and a really bad idea. Surprisingly, this is often what happens for some salespeople.

Over-Plan everything you are going to say and do. The other extreme is when you over-plan for a sales call. You can't plan everything that you'll say, or anticipate everything that a customer might do. You risk sounding robotic and turning off your customer. A sales professional needs to be spontaneous and flexible.

We advise our customers to focus on three critical actions when planning for every sales call, which helps to keep it manageable while still ensuring that the most important things are addressed.

      Specifically, the three critical tasks of a pre-call plan are to: 
  • Set clear sales goals and sales call objectives – because each sales call must be purposeful! 
  • Determine the decision maker(s) and influencers who you must speak with, and then confirm/schedule an appointment with them
  • Do your homework/research (such as internet search) and bring the appropriate resources
       

One STAR client has had a lot of success improving the Pre-Call Planning skills of their sales team by using STAR’s Pre-Call Planning Sales Meeting Kit.

“I want to compliment you on putting together a very high quality product! We just completed the Pre-call planning kit. The Sales Meeting Kits are well designed, easy to prepare for, easy to lead, and all of the feedback I’ve gotten about the material is that it’s relevant and useful. I am doing one kit per month in our sales meeting, and two hours’ worth of material is just about the right amount of content.”                        
                                             ~ manager who recently used the Pre-Call Planning Sales Meeting Kit

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