Pre-Call Planning: It’s More than Just Research

When you hear the phrase "pre-call planning," what comes to mind? If you said "research" you’d be about 17 percent correct. That’s because while research may be the most time consuming part of pre-call planning, there are five other aspects of it that you simply can’t ignore. In their new book, Silver Bullet Selling (Wiley, 2009), G.A. Bartick and Paul Bartick, respectively, president and director at OutSell Consulting, examine the six elements of solid pre-call planning. Make sure all of them are on your radar screen:

Research. We’ve covered the hows and whys of solid pre-call research in this newsletter before and we’re not going to rehash that information here. Instead, here’s a story that illustrates the importance of researching every prospect, even when you think you could write a dissertation on their industry. G.A. Bartick remembers the day he called on a large wire house in San Francisco. He’d just completed a project for another brokerage firm that went well and, feeling confident he knew the industry, he skipped his pre-call research. Big mistake. During his meeting with a senior VP, the executive often referred to the Wilshire 5000. Thinking this was company jargon, Bartick, about 10 minutes into the meeting, interrupted the VP and said, "I’m sorry, but I’m not familiar with the Wilshire 5000." The VP, recalls Bartick, "stood up and said, ‘You obviously aren’t ready to be meeting with me and I’m pretty busy so why don’t we end this meeting now.’" Since then, Bartick has never ignored his pre-call research.

Appearance. Planning for your sales call includes planning what to wear. Later in this newsletter you’ll find a related article with specific tips for dressing appropriately, but for now remember this advice from Bartick: "I’ve heard a lot about dressing to reflect your buyer," he says. "I absolutely disagree. I dress to reflect the values that I want my buyers to see in me." What do you want clients to see in you? Dress accordingly.

Arrival. Getting to the meeting on time is a critical component of your pre-call planning. A late arrival signals you are disorganized and disrespectful of others – two deal-killing traits. Bartick is so fanatical about punctuality that when he’s in an unfamiliar city, he does a dry run from his hotel to wherever he will be conducting business the next day. He also builds four layers of redundancy into his wake-up plan so he doesn’t oversleep.

Rehearsal. Practice out loud what you’re going to say in your meeting. Then practice it again. And, if there’s time, practice it again. If possible, get to your meeting early enough that you can do at least one of these practices in your car, right before you meet with the client. That way, you’ll go into the meeting feeling focused and confident. On his first day selling eyeglasses to optometrists, Bartick rode with his supervisor to learn the business. The supervisor arrived at his calls 15 minutes early, sat quietly facing forward for about three minutes, and then announced he was ready for the call. He did this every time – and every time, his boss was articulate and persuasive in his calls. When Bartick later asked about the three-minute silences, the supervisor explained he was rehearsing, in his mind, what he was going to say and how he was going to handle the buyer’s concerns. He usually did the rehearsals out loud, he added, but didn’t want to alarm Bartick on his first day. The man had been selling for 17 years and he still rehearsed before every call.

Learn the names. Getting prospects’ names right is so important it should be included as part of your pre-call planning. Ask your contact to give you the names of anyone who might be sitting in on your sales call. Learn all the names, including their correct pronunciations. Then bring your "cheat sheet" to the meeting to help if you forget someone’s name.

Iron your briefcase. More than once, Bartick has gone to his briefcase during a sales meeting only to discover that the form he needs isn’t there. Now, he does what he calls "ironing his briefcase" every night before he goes to bed. He reviews his schedule for the next day, empties out the contents of his briefcase and files everything he doesn’t need. Then he collects all the materials for the next day and places them in the briefcase. "Ironing," he says, "helps take the wrinkles out of tomorrow by preparing today."

Think you’re too busy to add all this planning minutiae to your schedule? If so, Bartick leaves you with this thought:
"The most obvious symptom indicating a need for better planning is feeling that we are simply too busy to spend time planning."

For more information, visit www.outsellconsulting.com.