Experience is not a substitute for the pre-call plan

Guest post by: Todd Youngblood
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“The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” - By Todd Youngblood

Scheduling and getting a face-to-face call with a decision maker is a non-trivial exercise. Well executed calls on decision makers are the stuff of which sales "living legends" are made. Poorly executed sales calls (i.e., those that accomplish nothing and therefore waste a decision maker's time) are the main source of "former sales reps" now embarked on a new - less challenging/rewarding - career.

Those three facts, along with plain old common sense demand that we plan out every call beforehand. Here's one format that's simple and gets the job done:

Who? Name, company and title of the callee
What? The main topic of the call
When? Obvious, but significant (First thing Monday morning requires a different approach than last thing Friday afternoon, for example)
Where? Ditto (Customer's office or conference room? Your office or conference room? Neutral site?)
Why? This is the biggie... What is your objective? What actions do you want the customer to take as a result of this call?
How? One-on-one conversation? PowerPoint? Sales Aids? References?
Major Points? What are the three to five major points that you must make?

Personally, I have the above outline saved in a Word document named "aashell.doc" in a folder called "CallPlans." Every time I plan a call, I pull it up, rename it something like "JoeCustomer0704.doc" and then type out and save my plan.

Also, as always, no best practice is worth beans without a metric or two to measure its and our own effectiveness. Classify your calls. For example:

Doughnut Drop - Any call with a primary objective of "relationship-building"
Routine Call - Calls that are necessary, important or required, but if screwed up, won't kill me
Critical Call - I better be good on this call, or I'm in deep yogurt.

What % of your calls fall in each category? Is the trend what you'd like it to be?

One last thought; question really... How much planning time is appropriate for each type of call? A doughnut drop might not require any. (So tell me again why you're making that call in the first place?) A routine call might deserve a 1 to 1 ratio. That is, allocate one hour of planning time for a one-hour routine call. A critical call is probably at least 4 to 1. Four hours of planning for a one-hour call.

Yeah, I know. You already knew all of the above. But do you practice what you preach regarding pre-call planning?

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“The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” - By Todd Youngblood

About the Author: Todd Youngblood

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Todd Youngblood is passionate about sales productivity. His 30+ year career in Executive Management, Sales, Marketing and Consulting has focused on selling more, better, cheaper and faster. He began his career in 1976 as a Marketing Representative with the IBM Corporation and for fifteen years progressed through a wide variety of field and staff assignments. He then founded and operated an Information Technology Outsourcing firm providing Software Development and Maintenance Services. In 1994, he joined an electronic commerce firm serving the insurance and healthcare industries, as Vice President of Sales & Marketing. He established The YPS Group, Inc. in 1999 based on his years of experience in Sales Process Engineering ï¿½ that is, combining creativity and discipline in the design, implementation and use of work processes for highly effective sales teams. Todd has worked extensively with firms in the Distribution, Manufacturing, Insurance, Services, and Telecommunications industries. He is the author of two sales management books, The Dolphin And The Cow and Think About Itï¿½ He is married, has two daughters, enjoys cycling, is a second degree black belt in Choi Kwang Do and serves on the board of the Cobb Symphony Orchestra.
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