Planning a Sales Call--More Than a Panic Attack in the Elevator

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We’ve probably all been there at one time or another even if we don’t want to admit it.  We’re in the elevator on the way to a meeting with a prospect, and we’re planning for the ‘sales call’ as the floors tick by.  It’s kind of crazy really when you think about how much money we invest in marketing, which is all about getting opportunities to be in front of a prospect.  Yet when we finally get that audience, we’re often not adequately prepared to fully leverage that time.

The antidote to this is the concept of the checklist.  If you have a background in aviation, you may be familiar with the concept of a checklist.  A checklist is a type of informational aid used to reduce failure by compensating for potential limits of human memory and attention. It helps to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task.

The sales application would entail creating a checklist of those elements that you’ve identified as being critical to a successful first meeting with a prospect.  That checklist might include; 1) what you need to take to the meeting, 2) questions you need to ask the prospect, and 3) objectives for the meeting.

Although not every meeting with a new prospect is identical, a person will be more confident during the meeting if he goes in feeling prepared and confident.  Creating a checklist with your sales team is a good way to document one important element of your ‘sales best practices’.

Making Things Simple is Hard Work

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It’s a paradox that communicating something in a ‘simple’ way [defined; straightforward, clear-cut, unadorned] is actually hard work.  When you think about the best teachers you’ve had, one of the qualities they probably had in common was the skill to communicate the complex in a simple way.

We face a similar challenge every day when we communicate with our organization’s stakeholders.  Do your employee’s understand the long-term vision you have for the business?  Does your banker buy-in to your growth plans?  Can your customers sense that everyone in your organization is working for them?

See if you can create a ‘simple’ one-page description of your business including an explanation of; 1) what you’re building, 2) who you help, 3) how you help them, and 4) why the business exists.  Then test your ability to make the complex simple by seeing if you can share your description with someone and have them say, “I get it.”  It’s not as easy as it sounds...

How Do You Measure Success?

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It’s kind of annoying really, but the best example of effective strategy implementation is a successful diet.  And as millions of people fail every day at their diets, it’s no surprise that a similar success rate exists for organizations struggling to execute on their plans for the year.

Measuring the results that matter most is what creates success in both scenarios.  Successful execution of a plan is a game of inches (and pounds) where consistent movement forward is what will produce dramatic results over the long run. 

The first step is to identify those activities or measures that will be the bellwether of progress.  The second and equally important step is akin to the weekly weigh-in at weight loss centers across the country.  It requires the creation of a system for consistently evaluating progress relative to the measures of success. This provides the opportunity to make adjustments and allocate resources appropriately as time progresses. 

So how are you doing implementing your plans this year?  Bathing suit season is right around the corner…

Sales Growth Comes From Daily Discipline

Most of us look at sales success as a very complex combination of skills, techniques, attitudes, and actions joined together in a secret formula.   Scores of books have been written about ‘new’ selling techniques that will lead to greater sales success.

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When I worked in professional sales for a Fortune 100 technology company, we received what was considered some of the best sales training in the world.  We spent six months at the corporate headquarters gaining product knowledge and receiving sales training based on the latest and greatest in the industry.

What I discovered in the field, however, was that the single most important characteristic I needed to master to achieve success was fairly simple—it was discipline.  It was the discipline to do the simple things, the steps that make up the sales process, and doing them consistently.

It takes discipline to plan, and it also takes discipline to implement the plan. Since most of us tend to get distracted and our discipline erodes, it’s helpful to find ways to remind yourself of your daily goals.

Discipline is not magical; it’s merely movement . . . regularly, consistently, purposefully. 

Creating a Blueprint for Growth

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If you’ve ever watched a house being built, or had an addition put onto an existing house, you know that the standard method of communication is a blueprint.  Anyone who knows how to read blueprints can clearly see a vision of the finished product. The blueprint tells a story about what is being built, and what it will look like when it’s done. 

Imagine the chaos that would ensue if the team building a house didn’t have a blueprint to reference, or if the carpenter had a different version of blueprint than the bricklayer.  Ridiculous right?  It would never happen—no builder would ever imagine building a house without a blueprint. 

Building a business is no different--everyone on the team needs to have a blueprint to reference and it needs to be the same blueprint.  The same chaos and disconnect between the carpenter and the bricklayer happens every day in businesses who lack a blueprint that tells the story of what is being built.