If you want to increase your win-rate, never go into a sales call without a plan.
Our research shows that without a sales call plan you greatly increase the chances that you are throwing away the best opportunity you will get to help your current or prospective customer to succeed. And there is no excuse for wasting a customer’s time after your marketing, referral and sales efforts have worked so hard to get you in the room.
Here, from the best of consultative selling training, is how to make the most of your precious and hard-won sales appointment.
- Clearly define your desired outcome.Think through what would be a satisfying result of the sales call…not only for you and your organization but for the customer and the customer’s customers. At a minimum, the outcome should move the sale forward on the customer’s side toward making a “go or no go” decision. To help you focus on a realistic and quantifiable goal, make sure that the result of the call is specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic and time-based. An example might be a commitment from the customer to call you back tomorrow with specific requirements for what you have recommended after they have gathered information from their team.
- Identify the customer’s probable needs.Review in your own mind the customer’s current situation. What problems do they face in their marketplace? What are current issues for their company? What is it they need personally and professionally to be successful? Then, make a list of what the customer has already expressed in terms of needs. Are they urgent? Do they lead to a clear and measurable and desired business result?
- List the critical few questions you can ask that will lead to real needs.Are you missing any critical information? Ask insightful questions that will spur the customer’s thinking toward the risk of NOT following your advice. What are the implications of inaction? What are the complications of action? Are there other business priorities that will take precedence? Are there other stakeholders who need to be involved and won over?
- Articulate the payoff.Be clear about what is to be gained by working with you and taking the recommended course of action. What specific value do you bring to the table that your competition cannot? How does your solution hit all the right targets for the customer? Describe what success will look like in terms of what matters most to your customer.
Of course, you may not be able to carry the discussion through to the payoff in the early stages of building the relationship. But you still need to have a sales call plan that will move you and the customer closer and closer to the final stage or working together or moving on.
Remember, preparation is the key to any sales call. Don’t wait until those last few minutes when you are in the customer’s lobby. You need the confidence of having done your homework and being well prepared to take advantage of each and every sales call.
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