Thursday, January 15, 2009

Thoughtful Thursdays - Sales Call Planning

Every sales call you make should lead to the next one, in time resulting a successful sale. When a potential customer is kind enough to give their time to meet with you, it is your responsibility to make the best use of that time. Sales call planning is an essential part of accomplishing this.

I advise my clients to set at least one objective for every call they make. By setting call objectives you will be able to pre-determine what questions you need to ask to get the required information in order to move forward in the sales cycle. It pays to spend time doing some pre-sales call planning. Your prospect will quietly appreciate the effort and time you take to make the process easier for them. In other words, you are not wasting their time and are ultimately making it very easy for them to say "yes".

An equally important part of your plan is to review your call and determine if you have met your objectives. If you have, then there are likely logical next steps to take. If you did not, ask your self why, figure out what took you off the planned course and takes steps to get back on course.

One of the ways I measure the quality of my calls is by the amount of work that comes as a result. The more work I have to do, the better the call went.

To wrap up, before you make your next sales call ask yourself why you are you are doing it. If you have trouble answering, then I suggest you take time to think about the reasons and develop your a plan.

Good Selling
Richard

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