Do You Have A Sales Plan?
Posted by
Chris Lang on Thu, Sep 09, 2023 @ 06:19 PM
I was a huge A-Team fan as a kid. One of the more popular catch phrases came from John “Hannibal” Smith when he would exclaim, “I love it when a plan comes together.” The A-Team always had a plan and the A Team always won their mission. (Even though I was pretty sure they were doomed in almost every episode.) I like to compare my sales team to the A-Team every now and again. Sure we don’t stack up in a lot of the categories that you may think of. Despite my pleas to the CEO we have no weaponized van, no combat experience and no large, men with mohawks to intimidate our foes. We do however have one thing that the A-Team has, a plan, and that plan helps us to win our mission.
I suggest that sales reps create a desired order of events with specific goals before EVERY meeting (aka a plan). It takes about 10 minutes and it will make a world of difference when you are trying to move a prospect along and find out whether they may become a customers or are just tire kickers. Here is a basic format to start with. Keep in mind that this format will change quite a bit depending on the level of the call. A discovery call will have a pitch added in, a proposal call would have an ROI section, etc… These are just some of the universals.
Intro: It is amazing to me how many people don’t jot down or memorize a quick intro into the call. It is about 5 lines that set the table for the rest of the meeting. Talk about why you are having this meeting, what the goal is and what the format is.
Questions: It is said that we have two ears and one mouth because we are supposed to listen more than talk. Truth be told I think we have two ears because we’d look foolish with one and our hearing would be awful. That being said, you should have thoughtful questions prepared before you go into each meeting. The more well thought out the questions the better the information you will get in return. Use those ears and let your prospect answer without cutting them off.
Discussion Points: There are things that you want your prospect to know. It may be that you have worked in their industry before and have great experience, it may be that they are partnered with a company you work with and it could even be as simple as you are from the same area as one of the prospects you are talking to. Write these down and use them at timely junctions within your meeting.
Concerns: Sales reps use a lot of interpretation to discover the concerns the prospect may have about signing a contract with them. “We’ll he said he likes chicken more than fish…..big red flag right there”. I take a different approach. When you are trying to find out if a prospect has concerns, you should just ask them. “Bob thus far do you have any concerns that I can address.” The key is to make sure that you address your prospect’s fears before you move on to the next step. There is nothing worse than losing a deal at proposal because there was a misinterpretation of something you said in the discovery call, but you never addressed it.
Follow up: Set the stage for your next meeting based on the results of the one you are in the process of completing. This could be an exploration of a concern they have, an onsite demo, a proposal review, etc... The point is you should let your prospect know that there is a next step and that next step has purpose and should be important to them.
Sitting in a meeting where the sales rep has no plan is painful. The rep rambles in and out of thoughts not finishing one before cruising into another leaving the prospect to try and piece together what the sales rep was trying to get across. “Well, that’s an hour of life I will never get back.” Is not what you want your prospects saying when they get out of a meeting with you. Have a plan. Be the A-Team.
Happy Hunting!