3 Simple Steps to Better Sales Calls

Are you using every sales call as a chance to improve your sales abilities?

Here are three things you can do start making the sort of small improvements in your sales abilities that will build up over time into major improvements in your salesmanship by doing them on every sales call.

1 - Plan the Sales Call

Every sales call should have a goal that either closes the sale or advances the sale towards a close.

With short sale cycle products, the goal maybe the obvious one of to close the sale.

With longer sales cycle products, it might be to gain the endorsement of an influencer in the deal. Or it might be to establish that there is pain a serious enough nature for both you and the prospect to spend time and resources to solve or eliminate it.

You should be prepared with commitment that you are going to ask for to secure your goal, and you should know what you are going to trade in return to get the desired commitment.

You should have the questions ready that you are going to ask to probe, find pain and value, and to determine more about how the decision will really be made.

NOTE: Check out Persuasive Selling Skills for more on asking persuasive questions and on asking for commitments that secures your sales call goal.

2 - Visualize Your Success

You want to go into every sales call with an attitude of success.

Visualize what you want to have happen in your minds eye, before the sales call. Replay this vision over and over in your mind up until the moment you are face-to-face with your prospect.

3 - Deconstruct and Analyze the Sales Call

After the sales call deconstruct and analyze it.

What did you do right?

What did you do wrong?

What could've been done better?

What didn't you anticipate, that if you had would have made the call better?

Analyze your call in a detached, factual manner.

Each sales call is a snapshot of where your skills are today.

By planning, visualizing, and deconstructing every sales call, you will find and build in improvements on a constant basis. These improvements will compound over time making your salesmanship better and better with each and every call you make.

Sell with Pride,

Shameless Shamus