I know. People buy from whom they like and trust. Asking good questions is vital to a sale. Listening is the most important thing a sales person can do other than ask for the business. What most do not realize, however, is that in order to get to all of those things and develop that trusting relationship, you have to get in the door. At the very least, you have to keep a customer on the phone for more than three seconds. Without that person’s willingness to listen to you, you have no sales pitch. You are useless.
With that in mind, I wanted to focus on this “lost step” in the sales process for a more extended period of time and will be doing a 2-part “series” on the pre-call plan.
The good news? Pre-call planning, or the lost step of sales, is a great way to grab the customers attention. As we have discussed in class, people don’t necessarily want to hear about your product or service. Especially right off the bat. More than likely, that want to know who YOU are and what YOU can do for them. If you pre-call plan, you can go into a meeting with a whole lsit of things to talk about.
As a salesperson, you are the ambassador of your organization. While on the phone or in a meeting with a client, you ARE you’re organization. You are the bridge between client and product/service. And so, your bridge better have a good foundation.
Without a foundation, any building, bridge or house would crumble. Likewise, without putting in the time to pre-call plan, your sale will also crumble. Take the time and do your due-dilligence you will be rewarded. Miguel de Cervantes accurately sums up the importance of this step: “To be prepared is half the victory.” How much better and less stressed you would feel about a test if you were given half the points before even sitting down to take it? Our lives would become much easier. Pre-call planning has the same affect on a sales call. It makes your job A. LOT. easier.
Part 2 of this post will focus on more concrete reasons for the pre-call planning phase of a sales call.
BoweryJE22
I am really glad you are doing two posts on this. I think that the pre-call or getting your foot in the door is a key step that often gets overlooked. A lot of what we have been talking about in class is when you are actually pitching to a client in a meeting, but that first initial call to a prospect is a daunting task. Preparation is definitely a key element, as well as being clear about who you are and what you have to help their needs. I also think a lot of the elements we mentioned for meeting with a client in person such as listening, mimicking, attunement can also somewhat be practiced in that first pre-call, even though its a phone call and not an in person meet.
Again I think prepping for cold calling is a vital part of sales thanks for the insight!