Four Essential Things to Do When Planning for a Sales Call
Posted on 09/18/2018 in Sales Call PlanningConsider 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:
- 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)
- 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)
- What are the likely objections and how will you respond?
- 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.