When you think about how much time you spend actually selling, it isn’t very much. I mean, really selling, you know, when you are sitting face-to-face with your prospective client engaged in a dialogue around change.
Look at your last week’s calendar. How much of your time was spent face-to-face (or ear-to-ear) with your prospective clients. Heck, add in the time you spent with your actual clients, and it still isn’t very much time. That means the time we spend with our prospects and clients is too valuable—and too rare—to not put a little thought into what we are going to do with that time.
Why, then, would you not spend 15 minutes preparing to be successful where and when it matters most of all? Why wouldn’t you design a plan to achieve the outcomes necessary to create and win opportunities, accomplishing what is necessary during each meeting to do so?
Value First
If you want to have a successful sales call, there isn’t a much better place to start than asking yourself what your prospective client needs from you at this stage of their process? What are they going to find most valuable?
Listen, you are not successful unless your dream client believes that spending time with you was of greater benefit to them than spending that time with someone else, or working on something else.
Create a Preference
No one talks about this. More still, no one wants to look at this issue, because it is a variable that isn’t easy to control or influence.
You are supposed to be creating a preference for you, your company, and your solution. You are supposed to sell in such a way that people would prefer to work with you over anyone else. You need to be known, liked, and trusted. You only two things to be a trusted advisor. (video)
And equally as important, you need to have the advice that makes you someone who can fill in the gaps of your prospective client’s knowledge and experience. Remember, you are vying for a position on your dream client’s team, and if they don’t choose you, there is a reason. Serving them where they are will give you a good start.
Control the Process
If you want to have an effective sales call, it has to do the work of creating enough value that you earn an absolute right to the next commitment. This means you need to know what commitment you need, and you have to help your dream client understand what she and her company are going to have to do make change in their organization.
Your buyer’s need your help in giving them the best advice and guidance on managing the process inside their company. Knowing how to manage that process makes you someone worth doing business with, and trading the value necessary to move forward improves the odds of gaining the next commitment, and it ensures success.
If you want to learn more about planning a sales call, you can watch a free 4-part video series here.
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