"Failing to plan is planning to fail."
"Prior preparation and planning prevents poor performance."
Heard these pearls of wisdom before? Although they may sound like cliches they are in fact very relevant in all areas of our lives especially to the professional sales person.
Without preparation and planning we will have little idea who we are calling, why we are calling them and no idea what outcome we desire.
Planning on a day to day basis means the 1st thing you do every day is plan what you are going to do and how you are going to do it. This will ensure you will remain focused and effective.
A day without a plan will result in you not calling customers in order of priority, missing potential hot opportunities and create a feeling of lack of control.
Plan who you will be calling & why.
Maximize prime selling time by scheduling admin jobs at relevant times.
Have personal objectives for the day which will ensure every day can be a successful one.
Ensure you are aware of and are fully prepared for any meetings that day.
Call Preparation
Call Objectives
Before each call ensure you know who you want to speak to and why before you dial. Having someone answer the phone with you not being prepared in this will ensure failure, you will sound unprofessional and are likely to lose the opportunity to speak to that particular customer.
You should also have any information relevant to the planned conversation to hand, this will ensure you maximize any opportunities afforded you.
Before making any call you should ask yourself, why am I making this call.
Without call objectives your sales call will lack direction and precision. If the customer feels you are wasting his time you will end the call without success and they may not take your call again.
Possible call objectives could include the gaining of information, the building of a relationship, the closing of a sale etc….
You must take a few seconds before each call to decide on the objectives for that particular call. "Sell them something" is generally not acceptable.
Now we are ready to actuall call the customer, when you do make sure you have the right introduction
Areas within the skills section;