Pre-Call Planning Part 2

As I mentioned in the first segment of this topic, I wanted to spend two posts on pre-call planning as it is such a crucial element to the sales process.  Whereas the first post spoke to the importance of pre-call planning, this post will focus on more of the “how-to’s” and applicable actions to take during this step of the process.

This post is based of a great article written by Gary Walker entitled, “Pre-call Planning – The Forgotten Sales Step.” In it he lists 10 of the most important reasons for pre-call planning:

1.  Plan to get the information you need.  Ultimately, any sales call starts by gathering information. It starts by discovering pain points, needs, preferences and wants.  What questions are you going to ask to get that information?
2. It allows you to anticipate and prepare. Once you have done your homework, you can anticiapte answers and be prepared with more leading, probing questions to follow up on your initial probe.
3. Prepares you to BRING VALUE.  People are looking for solutions when they buy something, be it a product or service. If you can’t bring value, you’re just as good as a little girl selling girl scout cookies door-to-door.  Pre-call planning prepares you to HELP your customer.
4.  Prepares you to converse knowingly and effectively.  You want to be prepared to talk about what is important to your customer, not you, the sales rep.
5. Demonstrates your competency.  People want to buy from somebody who seems to have the answers and is good at what they do.  Planning puts you in postition to be that person.
6. It sets you apart.  Not only is it a best practice, it is what turns the good to great. It is what separates the “used car” salesman from the stud.
7. Shows respect to your client.  Part of building rapport is getting somebody to respect you.  Coming prepared and ready to with an agenda shows the client that you care.
8. It is a repeatable process and prevents short-cuts and mistakes.  If you pre-call plan the same way every time, for every client, than you are less likely to forget something or get yourself in trouble during the call.
9. Potential for better and more efficient sales calls.  Similar to respect, this simply points out that the client has taken time out of their day to meet with you.  If are efficient and bring value, you are more likely to gain that business.
10. It develops good selling habits.  If you can’t see the benefit of a good selling habit in sales, you shouldn’t be in sales.