Prepare Thoroughly for Every Call
If you employed study, thinking and
planning time daily, you could develop
and use the power that could change
the course of your destiny.
— W. CLEMENT STONE
Preparation is the mark of the professional—in every field. The highest paid salespeople review every detail of an account before every sales call. They study their notes from previous calls. They read the literature and information they have gathered on the prospect. And their prospects can sense it almost immediately.
On the other hand, the lowest paid salespeople try to get by with the very minimum of preparation. They go into a sales meeting and attempt to “wing it.”
They think that the prospect will not notice. But prospects and customers are very aware if a person has come in unprepared. Don’t let this happen to you.
Your goal is to be among the top 10 percent of salespeople in your field. To reach that goal, you must do what the top people do, over and over, until it is as natural to you as breathing. And the top people prepare thoroughly, every single time.
Preparation for great success in selling consists of three parts. They are precall research, precall objectives, and postcall analysis. Let us discuss them in order.
Precall Analysis
During this stage, you gather all the information about the prospect and/or the prospect’s company that you possibly can. Check the Internet, the local library, newspapers, and other sources. If you’re gathering information on a company, either visit it or ask someone at the company to send you the most recent brochures and sales materials that the company uses for its own marketing. Read all this material and make notes of key points. The more precall research you do, the more intelligent and informed you will sound when you finally sit down with the prospect.
If you are dealing with a business, make it a point to find out everything you can about its products, services, history, competitors, and current activities. The rule is that you should never ask a question of a prospect if the information is readily available elsewhere. Nothing undermines your credibility more rapidly than for you to ask something like “What do you do here?”
This type of question tells the prospect that you have not bothered to do any research before the call. This is definitely not the kind of message you want to send at your first meeting.
Precall Objectives
The second part of preparation is where you set your precall objectives. This is the stage where you think through and plan your coming sales call in detail, in advance. Imagine that your sales manager were riding along with you and prior to the sales call, he asked you, “Who are you going to see, what are you going to ask, and what results do you hope to achieve from this sales call?”
Whatever your answers would be to that question, think them through before you see the prospect. Write them down. The best exercise of all is for you to prepare a list of questions, in order, that you are going to ask the prospect when you meet with him or her. Customers love salespeople who are thoroughly prepared with a written outline when they make a sales call.
Here is a great technique used by many of the top sales professionals. Prepare an “agenda” for the sales call before you go. Make a list of questions you would like to ask, in sequence, from the general to the particular. Space them out on the page so there is room for the prospect to make notes.
When you meet with your prospect, say, “Thank you for your time. I know how busy you are. I have prepared an agenda for our meeting with some questions that we can go over. Here is your copy.”
Customers love this approach. It shows that you are respectful of their time and that you have prepared for the meeting in advance. You then follow the agenda, asking the listed questions and asking additional questions that come up. Properly carried out, this method can be amazingly helpful in positioning yourself in your prospect’s mind as a true professional and as a consultant rather than as a salesperson.
Postcall Analysis
The third part of preparation is your postcall analysis. Immediately after the call, take a few moments to write down every bit of information that you can recall from the recent discussion. Don’t trust this to your memory, and don’t wait until the end of the day. Write down every single fact you can remember as quickly as you can. You will be surprised at how helpful these notes will become in the development of the prospect into a customer.
Then, prior to seeing the customer again, take a few minutes and review all of your notes. I think of this as “fluffing up your mental pillow.” When you do, you will be alert and fully prepared regarding this customer and his or her situation.
Customers are always impressed when they are called upon by a truly professional salesperson who remembers clearly what was discussed at their last meeting and who has obviously done his or her homework.
Your willingness and ability to prepare thoroughly are critical to your long-term success and to earning the kind of money you want to earn. The rule is this: When in doubt, overprepare! You will never regret being too prepared for a sales call. Often, your efforts in preparation will be the key factor that gets you the sale.
ACTION EXERCISES
Prepare a checklist of questions that you will need to ask to determine whether a prospect is a likely customer for what you sell. Review this checklist prior to every first meeting and use it as a guide to keep yourself organized and on track.
Prepare an “agenda” for an upcoming sales meeting. Put it on your company letterhead. Put the prospect’s name, company, and time and date of the appointment at the top. Present an unfolded, clean copy to the prospect at the beginning of the meeting, and then follow the agenda during the conversation. You will be delighted at the results.