Selling well matters.
Four in 10 business to business purchasing decisions favour the company that sold better (regardless of price / quality / or service features).
Successful sales calls are a critical element of “selling well”.
Successful sales calls are the result of disciplined planning and preparation.
Amazingly, many sales people spend more time travelling to a sales call then planning for it.
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 outcome.
To properly prepare for a sales call you need to:
1. Research the Company / Individuals you are Meeting:
a. Company
i. Google / Press Releases / Annual Reports / Mission Vision Values
1. What is their business model?
2. Revenue / Profit
3. Product / Market Focus
4. How are they doing?
5. What is important to them?
6. Do they appear to be growing or shrinking?
b. People
i. LinkedIn
1. Tenure
2. Past roles
3. Affiliations
2. Plan the Sales Call
a. Meeting Objective
i. What is the jointly understood context for the meeting?
b. Desired Outcome for You
i. What is our objective from the meeting?
c. Your Core Message
i. If the prospect only retains 3 things about this meeting with us, what do we want those 3 things to be?
d. Agenda
i. Introduction / Build Rapport
ii. Share our value proposition
iii. Ask open ended questions to understand
1. The state of their business
2. Their key priorities
3. The business problem they believe is the topic of our meeting
iv. Share some preliminary thoughts on how we can help
v. Align on next steps
When preparation meets opportunity good things happen.
When we take control of a sales call good things happen.
When we execute on an intention process / agenda good things happen.
To properly plan for your next sales meeting with a current customers or prospect, check out our Free Sales Call Planning Tool: http://itfacademy.com/free-tool-sales-call-planning-2/