As a sales leader and a sales coach, the following scenario has played itself multiple times a year with different businesses, in different industries, and with different salespeople.
A Sales Call for Disaster
I’ll be visiting a consulting client’s office and meeting one of their salespeople on their way to a face-to-face sales call (pre-COVID).
When asking the salesperson, “Where are you off to?”, they reply, “I’m going to meet Pete Townsend from ABC Company. He’s a new lead and the economic buyer for a competitor’s top account. I’m meeting him for the first time.”
My response: “That’s FANTASTIC! What’s the objective of the meeting?”
The salesperson replies: “I’m going to see where they’re at.”
The sales leaders reading this story are now cringing as much as I am, each and every time some version of this story plays itself out.
Naturally, each time it does happen, I’m on high alert for the salesperson’s return from this meeting.
In one particularly memorable instance, the salesperson returned beaming with pride. I just had to ask, “How did the meeting with Pete go?” to which they replied (with the same level of excitement as someone who has just won the lottery), “FANTASTIC, AMAZING could not have gone any better!”
“Wow… tell me why,” I asked with baited breath.
“His son plays AA hockey in the same league as mine. We shared stories about the trials and tribulations of being hockey Dads. Sounds like his son is also very good for his age.”
On hearing his response, I asked, “Is there an opportunity for us to displace the current vendor? What is the potential for the account? What’s the next step for us on the business front?”
His response was, “Not sure, we didn’t get down too much business. I told him about us briefly and then we started talking about hockey. About 40 minutes in, he had to go to another meeting, but I really think we connected.”
This is an all-too-common outcome from the all-too-expensive sales call. A game plan of “let’s see what happens” usually confirms that nothing positive will happen for us.
Sales Call Reality Check
“The man who is prepared has his battle half fought.” - Miguel de Cervantes
Though sales calls are not battles, the concept still applies.
At In the Funnel, we have our own mantra:
“When preparation meets opportunity, great things happen.” -In the Funnel
Nowhere is this mantra more applicable than for the sales call.
As sales leaders, our main objective is to influence the future behaviour of our sales teams in a positive way to achieve our sales targets.
Whether you are a software Account Executive on a first meeting with a new prospect or a partner at law firm meeting with a large current client, you need to plan and prepare for that meeting in order to achieve your desired outcomes. And yes, every meeting should have a desired outcome. Otherwise, it results in nothing more than rapport building (see our all-too-common story above).
In order to ensure a successful sales call, there are two key things you need to do – research and plan.
Getting Started with Sales Call Planning
→ Download Now: ITF Sales Call Planner [Free Tool]
In advance of any sales call (especially with a new prospect), it is imperative that you do your due diligence on both the company and the individuals you are meeting with.
Researching the Company
For the company, you should be able to find everything you need from a combination of Google, press releases, annual reports, social media (particularly LinkedIn), and their website.
The key information you want to review includes:
Researching the People
For the people you are meeting with, the obvious choice is LinkedIn. Start with researching the person, then move to their company page, followed by the website. Finally, from the website you can go to the ‘contact us’ area which will summarize their social media profile (always a great source for points of interest about their business).
Here is the key information to look for:
Planning for Better Outcomes
1. The Meeting Objective
What is your objective for the meeting?
Your objective depends on where you are in the sales process with this prospect. However, as part of your plan, it's imperative that you know what success looks like for you coming out of this meeting. Are you looking for a micro-commitment to progress the sale or are you hoping for a verbal deal? Consider planning for high, medium, and minimal desired outcomes so that you know what success looks like prior to the meeting.
2. The Desired Outcome for You
What is your objective for the meeting?
Obviously this will depend where you are at in the sales process with this prospect, but as part of your plan, it is imperative that you know what success looks like for you coming out of this meeting. Are we looking for a micro-commitment to progress the sale or are we hoping for a verbal? Consider planning for high / medium / minimal desired outcomes so that we know what success looks like prior to the meeting.
3. Your Core Message
If the prospect only retains three things about this meeting, what do we want those to be?
150 years ago, a man named Herman Ebbinghaus invented a formula for how quickly people forget retained information — the Forgetting Curve. Today, we still know his name because he was right (it has been tested many times since inception). The net of it is something that salespeople know well from experience... prospects forget everything.
The best strategy is to try to simplify three critical points from the meeting that will compel them to move forward with your micro-commitment, ensure you repeat these multiple times, and summarize these points at the end of the meeting.
4. Meeting Agenda
We have a very simple, yet effective framework that can be adapted to an agenda for almost every sales call. It doesn’t have to be formally enforced; however, you want to ensure you get through this agenda to earn the right to create or proceed with a sales cycle.
Introduction/build rapport
Share a very brief version of your value proposition
Ask (pre-prepared) open-ended questions to discover
the state of their business
their desired better future state
their key priorities (and metrics) to get them there, and
the business problems or opportunities they need to consider along that journey
Share some preliminary thoughts on how you can help (i.e., your value proposition)
Gain micro-commitments to align on next steps
Our Mantra for Success
When preparation meets opportunity, great things happen.
Similarly, when we take control of a sales call, great things happen.
When we execute an intentional process with a well-thought-out agenda, great things happen.
To plan for your next sales meeting with a current customer or new business prospect, use the In the Funnel Sales Call Planner available for download below.
FREE TOOL | SALES PROFESSIONALS
In The Funnel Call Planning Pulitzer
The sales call planner that you will use for the rest of your sales career.
When we execute an intentional process with a well-thought-out agenda, great things happen.