CHAPTER 7
Planning the Sales Call is a Must!
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. THE CORE PRINCIPLE: PLANNING
A. Sales Call Purpose – to make a contribution to the welfare of a person or
organization.
B. Begin your plan with purpose and passion will follow – plan each day and do
the best you can to carry out your plan.
1. Purpose: directs how you approach each sales call; defines success for
you; helps define who you are as a sales professional.
C. Plan to achieve your purpose
1. How you think, how you act, what you accomplish today will determine
your future.
a. You can control your future by what you do today
b. Plan each day, carry out your plan and adjust to circumstances as
you go.
c. At end of each day evaluate your day to ensure you are on your
way toward a successful tomorrow.
D. What’s a plan?
2. Careful planning of every aspect of the sales call helps the salesperson
be organized and prepared to interact with the customer.
E. What is success
1. Success – setting a goal and accomplishing it.
2. To be successful doesn’t necessarily mean to make a sale. It just means
to serve the customer in the best way possible.
F. The Gap: Trust building in a sales relationship
G. Why is trust important?
2. Trust is an important facet in a business relationship
3. How to build trust
a. Communication.
b. Similarity and compatibility.
c. Expertise.
d. Investing resources into the relationship, such as time and effort.
e. Providing benefits such as saving the buyer time or helping to
make a decision(s).
f. Reducing conflict or opportunities for conflict.
II. STRATEGIC CUSTOMER SALES – PLANNING THE PREAPPROACH
A. There are many aspects of planning a sales call. Effective strategic problem solvers have
the skills and knowledge to be able to:
1. Uncover and understand the customer’s strategic needs by gaining an in-depth
knowledge of the customer’s organization.
3. Develop solutions that demonstrate a creative approach to addressing the
customer’s strategic needs in the most efficient and effective manner possible.
5. Create value—as perceived by the customer
B. Strategic customer relationship or a formal relationship with the customer, the purpose of
which is joint pursuit of mutual goals.
C. Strategic Needs – the salesperson who understands the full range of the customer’s needs
is in a much better position to provide a product solution that helps the customer progress
more efficiently and effectively toward achieving his or her organization’s strategic goal.
1. Needs of the buyer
2. A number of needs are provided for the business-to-business and business to
consumer markets in the text
D. Creative Solutions.
2. A mix of goods and services — including competitors’ products and services
3. Today’s salespeople need to be creative problem solvers
a. Ability to develop and combine nontraditional alternatives to meet the
specific needs of the customer.
(1) Salesperson must invest a significant amount of effort into
(1) Solves the buyer’s problems and creates value for the buyer
(2) Value is perceptual—it is defined by the buyer
E. Mutually beneficial agreements – Salespeople and customers must work together to
develop a common understanding of the issues and challenges at hand to achieve a
mutually beneficial agreement.
F. The customer relationship model.
2. Both come to mutual beneficial agreements.
4. This achieves performance goals.
G. Why does preparation matter:
2. Develops an atmosphere of goodwill.
4. Increases sale by uncovering customer needs.
H. Elements of sales call planning:
2. Developing or reviewing the customer profile.
4. Developing the individual sales presentation based on the sales call objective,
customer profile, and customer benefit plan.
I. Always have a sales call objective.
1. Main purpose of a salesperson’s contact with a prospect or customer
2. The pre-call objective.
a. Before every sales call, ask yourself:
(1) “What am I going in here for?
3. Focus and flexibility.
a. Writing down your precall objective increases the focus of your efforts
4. Making the goal specific.
a. Goals are much more attainable when they provide concrete direction
5. Moving toward your objective.
a. Calls should always be planned
6. How to set a sales call objective
a. Set an objective for every call – SMART.
(1) Specific—to get an order is not specific.
(2) Measurable—quantifiable (number, size, etc.).
(3) Achievable—not too difficult to fulfill.
(5) Timed—at this call or before the end of the financial year.
(6) Example:
i. To present XMZ Electrical Distribution with two
specific solutions that provide long-term cost reductions
7. Customer profiles provide insight. It should tell you:
a. Who makes buying decisions?
b. What is the buyer’s background?
c. What are the desired business terms and needs of the account?
d. What competitors do business with the account?
e. What is the history of the account?
8. How do I find information for a customer profile?
a. Customer relationship management software
b. Other resources:
(2) D&B Hoovers
(4) Bizstates.com
9. Place yourself in the buyer’s shoes
a. Imagine yourself in buyer’s role
(1) What is placing pressure on the buyer?
(2) What areas might be causing the buyer to seek a solution?
10. Creating a foundation for your customer benefit plan
11. Customer benefit plan: What it’s all about?
a. Step 1 – select the features, advantages, and benefits of your product to
present to your prospect.
(1) the benefits you select should align with buyer’s most important
needs
b. Step 2 – develop your “marketing plan.”
(1) If selling to wholesalers or retailers, your marketing plan should
include how, once they buy, they will sell your product to their
(1) provides the buyer with an understanding of the important
(1) provides a recommendation to the buyer.
12. The sales presentation is where it all comes together – Seven steps of a sales
presentation:
a. Approach.
b. Presentation.
c. Trial close.
d. Methods to overcome objections.
e. Ways to overcome objections.
f. Additional trial closes.
g. Close of the sales presentation.
III. THE PROSPECT’S MENTAL STEPS
A. Attention.
B. Interest.
C. Desire.
D. Conviction.
E. Purchase or action.
IV. EMPATHIZING WITH THE BUYER: LEARNING FROM AND EXPERIENCED
BUYER, MATTHEW LEISETH
A. President of Hornbachers, regional grocery chain
B. 25 years of buying experience
C. What makes a salesperson really impactful?
1. Long-term business understanding
2. Broad consideration of overall business (i.e. categories)
D. Impactful salespeople also understand that buyers have multiple options.
1. Use a partnership attitude demonstrate a genuine understanding
3. Provide solutions in terms of products, services, and knowledge.
E. Impactful salespeople understand the various roles their products can play.
1. Salespeople build trust through their knowledge, their understanding, their
insight, and their ability to leverage their firm’s resources and expertise
F. What builds trust?
2. Understand each customer’s specific buying process
a. When do we make purchases (i.e., our buying cycle)
b. What format of information is important to us and when do we need this
information?
c. How does our business work?
d. what are our business objectives?
3. Value the buyer’s time.
a. Send a meeting agenda one week ahead of time to the buyer
b. Focus on the question, “What’s the most productive use of our time
today?”
4. Don’t be ambiguous or overgeneralize business issues.
6. Make sure we all understand the next steps