Planning The Sales Call: Steps To A Successful Approach.

Planning The Sales Call: Steps To A

Successful Approach

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 4–2

Figure 4.1:The Personal Selling Process (PSP)

• The second and third step in the 7-stage professional personal selling cycle


Why Plan the Sales Call?

"Failing to plan is planning to fail" • an old saying with a lot of truth in it


Why Plan the Sales Call? (cont’d)

Top professional sales representatives thoroughly plan all their sales calls to ensure success by

1.Establishing Sales Call FocusGenerate sales — sell particular products to target customers on designated sales calls.

Develop the market — lay the groundwork for generating new business by educating customers and gaining visibility with prospective buyers.

Protect the market — learn competitors’ strategies and tactics and protect relationships with current customers.


Why Plan the Sales Call? (cont’d)

2. Improving Effectiveness and Efficiency

3. Preparing for Customer Reaction

4. Enhancing Self-Confidence and Professionalism

5. Determining Which Selling Strategies to Use

6. Avoiding Errors


Sales Call Planning Importance

Sales call planning increases in importance when• the customer's decision is a complex, high-

involvement, high risk one;

• future interactions and negotiations with the customer are expected;

• the customer's needs are unique;

• a range of alternatives is available to the customer; and

• the sale is very critical to the salesperson.


Planning for the Sales Call: Six Steps to Pre- Approach Success

There are at least six general steps that ought to be considered in preparing for a sales call

1. Prepare the prospect for the initial sales call • "Seeding"

– prospect-focused activities carried out several weeks or months before a sales call

2. Sell the Sales Call Appointment by prenotification• cold call

• e-mail

• fax

• mail

• telephone


Planning for the Sales Call: Six Steps to Pre- Approach Success (cont’d)

3. Gather and analyze all relevant information about the prospect

• Gathering Information About Consumer Prospects

• Consumer credit bureaus

• Market research

• Library sources

• Gathering Information About Organizational Prospects

• In-house purchasing agents

• Electronic directories and databases

• Library sources


Planning for the Sales Call: Six Steps To Pre- Approach Success (cont’d)

4. Identify the prospect's problems and needs

• Organizational Problems and Needs

• SPIN approach– Situation

– Problem

– Implication

– Needs Payoff

5. Choose the Best Sales Presentation Strategy

6. Rehearse Your Approach


Initial Sales Call Reluctance – Sales Stage Fright

• One of the biggest problems new salespeople face is fear of making the initial contact with prospects

Kinds of Sales Call Reluctance• Social or self-image threat• Intrusion sensitivity• Analysis paralysis• Group fright• Social class or celebrity intimidation• Role ambivalence• Exploitation guilt


Sales Call Anxiety (SCA)

• SCA (sales call anxiety) can be attributed the fear of being negatively evaluated and rejected by customers

• SCA has 4 components1. negative evaluation of the self

2. imagined negative evaluations from customers

3. one’s physiological symptoms

4. protective actions


Overcoming Sales Call Reluctance

• Many of the barriers to making sales calls can be overcome through the following efforts– Listen carefully to the excuses other salespeople use to

justify call reluctance and learn to objectively analyze your own excuses

– Use supportive role-playing and discussions with sales colleagues to overcome fear

– Make some initial prospect contacts with a partner for support; then make calls without partner support


Overcoming Sales Call Reluctance

– Review and re-enact recent sales calls with sales colleagues to constructively critique performance for signs of progress

– Shift the focus from individual prospect personalities to sales objectives by setting them down in writing prior to making a sales call

– Rehearse sales calls with sales colleagues to reinforce positive behaviors

– Observe and model the behavior of successful salespeople


Approaching the Prospect

• The old saying that "you never get a second chance to make a first impression" indicates how important that first face-to-face contact with the prospect can be


Greeting the Prospect

• Mood– positive

• Facial Expression– warmly smiling with mouth and eyes

• Proper Body Posture


Greeting the Prospect (cont’d)

• Good Handshake

– Types of handshakes• Seal-the-deal

• The fish

• Three-fingered claw

• Bone Crusher

• The pumper

• The death grip

• The dish rag

• Presenting Your Business Card

Planning The Sales Call: Steps To A Successful Approach.

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