The last four months of the calendar year are all important to our sales training clients in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto. We move from the late Summer into Fall and then into the drive for the Christmas retail season. If your company has a fiscal starting in September, making Q1 sets the pace for the year and missing it means playing catch-up in other quarters. The answer rests with sales activity. As a Salesperson, your ability to make many calls on decision makers that meet the ideal customer profile is the first step toward making targets. The second is your strategy with each call. Here’s a three step guide to ensure you have a great sales call every time.
Sales activity has many components. We all know that high levels of phone activity are a great start. Whether you are prospecting for new business or connecting with established customers, using the phone to book appointments is the first step to making more sales. What you actually do on those calls will have a major bearing on hitting your sales targets.
The Three Steps To Making Great Sales Calls
1. Plan every call before you contact or visit your client.
Ask yourself this question – What would make this call successful? What’s my specific goal? We all want to make a sale. Often we need to advance the sales cycle for that to happen. We have all been caught off guard before without doing proper call preparation. We need to have a strategy with each call. Talking to the decision maker to catch up on their long weekend may build a relationship, yet it doesn’t advance a sale.
2. Rate your appointment/phone call afterward on a call of 1 to 10.
Ask yourself – Did I reach my intended goal? What did I do well? What could’ve I have done better? What was the highlight of the call? Learning from your hindsight is an excellent way of building better foresight and sales intuition.
3. Determine your next tactic after each call and update your CRM/client history record/calendar.
Mapping where you are in the sales cycle with each client will give you the ability to sense what’s needed to close the sale. Listening to your buyer and using empathy will allow you to feel his or her emotions and what’s holding them back from saying yes.
Emotional Intelligence
Top-performing Salespeople have an uncanny ability to develop a strong sense of emotional intelligence. By asking their decision makers great questions and actively listening, they have their finger on the pulse of their client’s needs and desires.
This intuitive ability not only builds strong relationships with buyers, it actually increases your ability to make more sales.
The skill of emotional intelligence is a major focus of our new online sales training program called The Sales Skills Incubator. Feel free to click the link for more information on the course. The Sales Skills Incubator is available for a free trial giving you the chance to check it out to make sure it’s right for you.
Do you practice The Three Steps To Making Great Sales Calls? Which one has the greatest impact on your ability to make more sales? I’d we love to hear your comments below. If you liked this post, share it on your favorite social media platform.
Thanks!
Dave Warawa – PROSALESGUY
Author of SHUT UP! Stop Talking and Start Making Money available on amazon.com and amazon.ca in paperback and kindle.
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