By: Lisa Rose – Senior Group Vice President – The Brooks Group
Pre-call planning helps your sales professionals convert more prospects, yet many sales professionals either don’t do pre-call planning or they don’t do it well. As a sales leader, you can help your team win more deals with sales coaching on six essential pre-call planning skills.Planning a Sales Call Should Be Your First Step
Some of life’s greatest experiences come from acting on spur-of-the-moment decisions. But if you’re a smart sales professional, you’ll know to save those impromptu endeavors for weekends and vacations.
That’s because, in any business venture, planning is important. In sales, it’s often the difference between success and failure.
A thorough pre-call plan is one of the most overlooked steps in the sales process, but it’s critically important. The more you know about the buyer in advance, the better chance you have of being perceived as a strategic resource for your prospect and for maximizing the time you have in the face-to-face phase of the sales process.
In a crowded marketplace, all other things being equal, the one with the most information, who knows how to use it, wins.
How to Prepare a Sales Call Plan
Chances are, you’re not the only one seeking to do business with your potential client. In a competitive landscape, knowing everything there is to know about a prospect can give you the edge. When it comes to research, more is more.
When planning a sales call, it’s good practice to scour available resources for any relevant information. Here are a few questions you don’t want to leave unanswered:
- Who am I competing against?
- What are my competitors’ weaknesses?
- Am I calling on a decision-maker or primarily an influencer?
- What are their budget constraints?
- What is the single biggest problem I can help them solve?