Planning Sales Call Improves Success | Effective Sales Planning Training
Different decision influencers need to be approached in different ways. Forgetting to plan the objective of each sales contact or setting unrealistic objectives is the root of most sales failures. In the complex sale, a professional should plan on a series of at least five—and often as many as a dozen—personal sales call on a large prospect. Trying to close the sale on the first call is like throwing a “Hail Mary” pass in the first quarter of a football game.
Pre-call planning will help you eliminate gaps in your knowledge about a prospect and will help you maintain the momentum necessary in a long-cycle sale. With each successive call, there should be a routine you follow to help you touch all the bases. Your contact cycle will go through a number of stages including the following:
Research
The more you know, the better you’ll do when you make your first sales call if you can answer questions like these:
What are some common problems of companies in this industry?
What has appeared in the press regarding this company?
What is the content and style of the company’s website?
Who are the company’s suppliers? (Consider calling them.)
Who else works or has worked with this company? (Find out their opinions.)
During your early sales calls, you should gather additional information about the business, its problems, the decision influencers and their values, your competition, and potential service or product needs of the organization.
Focus and Track
Ask yourself, “Where am I in the sales process with this prospect?” If you are in the discovery phase, focus on the discovery issues in this book. If the prospect is in the decision phase and you are in discovery, your chances of success are limited.
Next focus on the people you know and the ones you don’t know who are in the decision group. Develop a strategy to meet one or two new people on each sales call. Remember, if you are being blocked from meeting key people in the decision process, the company may not be sincere in considering you.
Conclusion
Having goals for each sales contact will help you to focus and improve your success rate.
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