How well did your last sales call go? Did you achieve what you set out to achieve? Do you know what your next course of action will be with that customer/prospect? Do you have evidence that a real sales opportunity exists?

Using a pre-call and post-call checklist is a very useful process when assessing the effectiveness of your sales calls.

Too many sales people, however, invest too little time thinking about and planning their approach to developing prospective sales opportunities. Many sales opportunities involve a range of variables that need to be accounted for and acted upon if they are to achieve a successful sales outcome.

Most of us do not work in businesses where you can get an immediate sales result from one contact only. There are often several steps to achieving a successful sale, and like a good chess player you need to think several steps ahead.

So why leave your sales opportunities to chance?

Showing up with little or no plan leaves you looking unprofessional in the eyes of the customer. And you can’t afford that in today’s tough and competitive market place.

You may like to use the following checklist to maximise your sales efforts.

Pre-call checklist:

Questions to consider before calling on a new prospect or an existing customer:

• What is my call objective?
• Who do I need to speak to in this business/division/partnership/family?
• Who is the key decision maker(s)?
• Who is a main influence(s)?
• What potential obstacles exist that will threaten the sale?
• What stage am I at in the sales cycle?
• How will I open the call?
• What information do I have?
• What information do I need to find out?
• What sort of objections emerge out and how will I handle them?
• What’s my fall back position?

Post-call checklist:

Questions to consider when reviewing your customer sales interaction:

• Did I achieve my objective?
• What went right?
• What went wrong?
• What information did I gather?
• What evidence do I have that this is still a viable sales opportunity?
• Did I advance the sale to the next stage?
• What will be my next move?
• Who else needs to be involved in the process?
• What else do I need to do to progress the sale to the next stage?
• When am I next going to see or speak to this customer?
• What will be my next call objective?

It is important that you review each of your calls to determine how you went and how you could improve. This tracking process is important for two reasons:

1. It allows you to determine where you are at in the sales process with that particular customer, paving the way for key action items.
2. It results in a process of continuous improvement, allowing you to continuously improve upon your prospecting skills as you review what worked well and what did not work well.

How many of us have been in business for a while and things have been going along smoothly, sales coming in, customers are happy. Then you notice that you are not winning the business you used to win.

In fact, you notice some of your customers are using new players in the market place when they once used you, or they are not doing anything at all. You follow up and find out that your clients are keen to work with the new players because they bring something different, new or unusual. Or they are distracted by other things.

Initially, you may take it as a personal rejection – “they don’t like me”. Then you stop the self-wallowing and realise that:

• a. You missed out on a new trend or a new idea that was gaining momentum in your market, so your approach is not up-to-date or relevant any more.
• b. You have not kept pace with changes in your market. Your business is at risk of becoming obsolete. You are losing your competitive edge.

With the commoditisation of many products and processes, the business landscape can change over night and you can lose your edge. What was once a high value, premium or customised product or service can be reduce to a “me2” very quickly, or become obsolete.

I have been reading a great book called A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink, which talks about what can and can’t be replicated easily. He focuses on, among other things:

Abundance, Asia & Automation

He talks about how we now live in a world turned upside down by rising affluence, the outsourcing of “good jobs” overseas and the computerisation of our lives. He focuses on a world fast shifting from the information age to the conceptual age.

This got me thinking about how we now need to regularly look at our markets and especially our competition and what they are up to. Often the old SWOT is done (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) where the original business plan is put together and then repeated once a year if you’re lucky.

Given the rate of change, new innovations and ideas in the market, how often do we need to assess our competitors and our competitive edge? I am not sure, but all I know is that once a year is not enough these days. There is so much competition out there competing for people’s time, attention and money, it’s hard to keep up. As a sales person we need to know our competitive edge – why we are better than the competition.

And if we have been around long enough we know that competition isn’t just our direct competitors either; it can be anyone. Your competitors can include:

• Current competition.
• Peripheral competition.
• Emerging competition.

In the type of business I am in (consulting, assessment and training) my competition can vary and can also include internal company HR or Learning & Development departments.

However, it can also be the economy, an election, wars, droughts, etc. While I would love to be, and perhaps should be, an essential service provider for any business (we all need to be effective at sales and service), in reality my business is not perceived that way by companies. If things get tough or people get distracted, customers can lose sight of what may be important to them and not invest their money and time in your offering, even though they should.

Being market aware, community aware and world aware is part of our competitor analysis these days. Rather than sit back and think it is all too hard, I have found that regularly reviewing where you are at in relation to everyone else in your space and checking the broader market is a good idea.

This doesn’t mean you have to resort to investing in major market research campaigns. In reality, if you are mindful, you are really researching every day – the information is often right in front of you.

Internet: The internet is a powerful tool for finding information on a variety of topics.

Personal visits:If possible, visit your competitors’ locations. Observe how employees interact with customers. What do their premises look like? How are their products displayed and priced?

Talk to customers:Take careful note of what your customers and prospects are saying about your competitors.

Competitors’ ads / websites/ etc.:Analyse competitors’ ads, websites, marketing material, etc. to learn about their target audience, market position, product features, benefits, prices, etc.

Speeches/ presentations:Attend speeches or presentations made by representatives of your competitors.

Trade show displays: View your competitor’s display from a potential customer’s point of view. What does their display say about the company? Observing which specific trade shows or industry events competitors attend provides information on their marketing strategy and target market.

Written sources:

• General business publications
• Marketing and advertising publications
• Local newspapers and business journals
• Industry and trade association publications
• Industry research and surveys

Understanding your competitors is an integral part of your sales planning process. By investing the time in researching your competitors you will be able to:

1. Understand your competitor’s advantages and disadvantages relative to your own position.
2. Highlight key areas of focus based on your position within the market compared to competitors.
3. Provide an informed basis to develop strategies to achieve competitive advantage in the future.
4. Be prepared to handle questions or challenges posed by potential customers in relation to competitors.

Ask yourself regularly:

• Who are the key competitors in your market place?
• What is a profile of each of your key competitors (market position, size, distribution, reputation)?
• What are your competitors’ primary objectives (to be number one in market, rapid increase market share, to specialise in a particular segment of the market)?
• What do they do well?
• What don’t they do well?
• What threats do your competitors pose?
• What is your primary competitive advantage over them?

An important note: By reading outside your area of specialisation you can learn a lot about other markets and ways of doing business that might just translate into a competitive edge for you. Remember the old saying: “A mind is like a parachute – it only works when it is open”. So be open to new ideas and change. It’s an essential life skill.

Have you ever sat through a pointless meeting and calculated how much of the company’s money was being wasted on individuals sitting around a table completely zoned out?

Sales meetings in particular are an important tool for helping you to keep your team’s performance on track. Effective sales meetings don’t just happen, and improving your meetings isn’t just a case of ordering drinks and a plate of muffins. Successful meetings require a range of skills, a disciplined approach and an effective leader.

Here are some handy tips on how to prepare for and conduct effective sales meetings so that you and your team get the most out of them.

How often should sales meetings be run?

The regularity of when you run sales meetings may vary depending on your specific work environment, the geographic spread of your sales team and the nature of the work that you do. However, generally speaking in most sales environments, it is important to have a weekly and a monthly sales meeting as a minimum. This certainly provides a strong foundation and can be supported effectively by individual and regular sales coaching of both a formal and informal nature.

In addition, your meetings may vary depending on when they run.

The weekly meeting – focus on:

• Go through previous week’s results.
• Share in successes of previous week.
• What do we want to achieve this week?
• Key actions required before next meeting.

The monthly meeting – focus on:

• Go through previous month’s results.
• Share in successes of previous month.
• What sales results do we want to achieve?
• How do we go about achieving them?
• Changes, improvements and innovations.
• Sharing of knowledge and information (individual presentations; could include product, process, market, customer info).
• Review current sales objectives, confirm if still relevant and adjust if appropriate.
• Re-link focus to overall sales goals, strategies and performance targets.
• Key actions required before next meeting.

Preparation for the sales meeting

Gathering team results and reconfirm or redefine sales targets. Notify people of the meeting with plenty of notice. Often it is best to organise a standard day and time when you meet. This creates consistency and sets expectations.

Running the sales meeting

1. Always start and finish on time. Reward people who are on time by starting the meeting as scheduled. When you wait for latecomers you penalise those who have arrived on time – and you inadvertently reward those who come late.
2. Stick to the agenda. A meeting is held for a purpose, so keep its main objectives and desired outcomes clearly in mind at all times. Be prepared with handouts, questionnaires, overheads etc. Distribute the agenda several days before the meeting. The agenda is considered a commitment of what will be covered, by whom and for how long. Most salespeople complain that meetings have no agenda and it goes nowhere far too slowly.
3. Announce the successes. Take a few minutes to congratulate and thank the people who are contributing, meeting goals and closing deals. Get them to tell their successful sales stories to the group so people can learn from their experiences. Make sure you share this around from meeting to meeting. A person who may be struggling can still have some successes, so encourage them by having them share their successes too. What you pay attention to will grow – catch them doing something right!
4. Make it fun (while still being professional). If you are not creative on the fun-making side of things, assign fun to one or two of your sales team who are. Take advantage of the creativity of your people. This will cause some anticipation throughout the meeting.
5. Get staff involved. Have a Timekeeper, a Notetaker, a Whiteboard writer and a Presenter.
6. Good meetings have leadership; bad meetings do not. The success of a meeting will depend largely on your ability as chairperson to get things done efficiently and to reach group decisions in minimum time. Reflect on the questions below in relation to how your role as chairperson affects the outcomes of your sales meetings.

Avoiding the ‘zzzzz’ factor in sales meetings

Check your meeting format:

• Is the style of your meeting a good match for the personality of your team or is it just a match for your own personality?
• Have you spent time reflecting on the type of rapport or atmosphere you want to create in your meetings?
• Do you tend to conduct meetings in the fashion you do simply out of habit?

Reflecting on these questions will provide you with an appropriate direction to take to ensure you and your team are engaged and gain the most out of your meetings

I confess, like most sales people I do not like – no I hate – paperwork and administration, because in my experience most of it is unnecessary.

Aggh! I hear some people say “information is vital for any business”. Yes it is, but not all of it. What information and how much of it do we really need?

As a sales person I do know the importance of information. It allows me to be focused when getting on the phone and out into the field to find more viable sales opportunities. I am focused on who I need to contact, how I need to contact them and how often I need to contact them to get the type of customers and sales I want for my business.

I have goals and targets set, I know my market and how I need to sell to them, I know what products and services I can sell and at what price, I understand my competitive advantage and value proposition, I aim to clearly understand my customers’ needs, I have proposal or quote templates I can use when putting forward an offer or solution to a prospective customer.

I use PR, marketing and contact campaigns to help drive more leads and new business, I liaise with other team members who get involved with project delivery to ensure they understand the brief, I provide accurate data to our bookkeeper for invoicing purposes.

With the right information I am prioritised and focused on my job. I value information, and I know I need to make time for information management.

I clearly understand that the capture, distribution and management of the right information is critical to my job and the outcome of any sale. Getting the right information to the right people is important in my job, my staff, my clients and my peace of mind.

However, anything that blocks or gets in my way of doing my job effectively is frustrating. Too much unnecessary paperwork/data management can easily erode hours of my valuable selling time if I am not careful. We can all get hooked into filling out this and that, and suddenly you find it is the end of the day and you haven’t made a prospecting phone call to anyone – Missed Sales Opportunities.

The information age can be a huge advantage, but also a huge trap for sales people.

With the advent of CRMs (customer management systems), data capture and management can be made so much easier – well almost. I do value database management systems. We use one ourselves and if used properly they can be an amazing attribute to any business and sales person’s job.

However… too many businesses believe that sales automation will solve all their problems.

In fact some companies have tried to eliminate their sales forces altogether (in the vain hope they can automate sales completely) only to find that it didn’t work. Now maybe some businesses have cracked it, but I am yet to find one. I am yet to see the complete automation of customer acquisition and retention for businesses.

So as far as I know it, nearly every business needs someone working in a proactive sales role if they want to make money. And salespeople should invest their time at what they do best – selling.

However I am seeing an increasing problem of too many salespeople spending too much time managing data on CRMs when they should be out prospecting and selling. They are falling into the trap doing too much paperwork, or should I say CRM work. They look very busy, but on closer inspection they are just shifting around bits of information and not making sales.

There can be two main reasons for this:

• They are hesitant and fearful of making contact with prospects, so data base management or paperwork is an easy way out to look busy (this is usually due to a learned behavioural and attitudinal issue that can be addressed by cognitive behavioural techniques – another topic for another time).
• The expectations set by management around data capture and management paralyses the sales team and holds them hostage to the CRM. Classic “paralysis by analysis”.

If your sales team is spending too much time on their CRM filling out data, and not enough time in the field or on the phone with customers, then you probably missing valuable sales opportunities.

I mean how much information do we really need? What it the right information to capture and manage? It all depends on your business of course. I like to keep it as simple as possible and the basics could include:

• Size, type, potential and value of customer – their buying patterns, market potential and history including sales volume, margins, product mix, etc.
• How they came to your business – via lead, referral, direct marketing, direct prospecting, etc.
• Prospect lists including type of prospect, type of contact approach used and outcome of contact.
• Competitors – how many of them, how you are positioned against them, what they are doing with whom, etc.

The thought of having to fill in forms and details for the sake of it leaves me cold. Don’t get me wrong. I understand that key customer, market and competitor information must be captured and stored for tracking and account management/development/penetration purposes. I also understand that in this networked world data is paramount to any business – let’s just make sure it is the right data though.

CRMs are at risk of paralysing sales forces.

Sadly, sales people are often not consulted on what they want in a CRM nor are they involved in buying the CRM software. Even worse, many CRMs have been designed without little or no consultation with sales people. We often find CRMs slow, cumbersome and arduous to use, with no apparent links to clear sales KPIs – not what you want when you are a fast moving on-the-go sales person.

Advice from some William T Brooks, author of The new science of selling and persuasion is:

• Build or buy customer acquisition and retention engines (aka CRMs) that are simple, easy to use and provide meaningful information linked to relevant sales performance criteria.
• Work on cost reduction initiatives using technology that doesn’t turn sales people into data entry clerks.
• Never allow digital solutions to dominate a sales force’s life or curtail creativity or productivity.

So beware of competing motivations! It could really cost you.

The 20^th century approach of one-upmanship, although still encouraged by many traditional sales managers, seems to be slowly retreating into the shadows of the past as crude and old-fashioned. Polar opposite to the latter, but just as unproductive, are the approaches of:

• A whining puppy (pleading for a sale trying to make customers feel sorry for you).
• A chameleon (always bending and twisting yourself to fit any situation, often losing yourself in the process).
• A parrot (not adapting your approach enough to suit the style if the client).

These approaches often annoy customers and elicit pity rather than trust.

Too many sales people (in particular those new to sales) feel they need to pretend to be someone else or be something they are not. We find many sales people still stick to a “one size fits all” repertoire and find it difficult to adapt their style to different client situations and styles, often finding themselves hiding behind the veneer of brand or concepts (think “walking talking brochure”).

Or worse, others twist themselves into all sorts of shapes just to please the client. The biggest trap I see many sales people falling into is the trap of trying to be liked – at any cost. They end up doing anything to be liked including giving away product or margins which costs them and the business money. Clients (consciously or not) can see through the pretense and never feel quite able to trust you because the “real” you did not show up or stand up for who you are and what you represent.

These aspects featured in my research project Sell Like a Woman. Here is what some of the women had to say:

• “As a sales person you learn to reflect each of your clients, but at one stage in my sales career I felt as if I was loosing my identity, from constantly twisting myself out of shape to fit other people’s ideals. I then started to bring more of me into my interactions with clients, rather than changing myself to suit them. I have found that clients respond well to the more genuine me and I now feel more sure of who I am in the situation and therefore more capable of establishing boundaries and orchestrating the transaction.”

• “I struggle to work with people who I clash with either ethically and from a values perspective. I realised this a long time ago and do not enter into these types of relationships personally or professionally.”

• “{Effective sales people] posses a good deal of honesty and approach me like an intelligent person. Those sales people who ‘talk down’ or treat me like a ‘woman’ (e.g. buying a new car) rarely get a sale. Even if I know which car I want to buy, I may go back to the dealership but ask for a new salesperson.”

Our sales research is showing that you need a variety of repertoires you can use with different clients – that is, be more professional and business like with some; more friendly and relaxed with others or more quiet and reserved with yet other, however it is evident that clients still want to deal with the real you. Knowing how to modulate and adapt your approach is vital in any sales situation but knowing how to still remain as “you” is equally as important.

One way I have found very useful in ensuring I am operating authentically for my client and myself is using the skill of verifying. It is very useful when trying to understand another person’s situation or point of view. Verifying your customer’s needs requires the combination of three key communication skills; listening, paraphrasing and clarifying.

Verifying can be a useful technique to ensure the message has been received and understood by both the sender and receiver. Verifying involves paraphrasing or summing up in your own words what you think the person has communicated.

People with good verifying skills:

• Paraphrase (sum up or rephrase) what is being said.
• Use questions – to sum up or clarify.
• Empathise with the other person.
• Encourage the speaker to continue – nod, murmur brief words of encouragement.
• Concentrate on what is being said.
• Really take in what is being said, not making judgements as they speak; pay attention with their whole manner – body, eyes, facial expression.

We all need to have skills and boundaries to guide us in our endeavours and preserve our integrity and the integrity of others. Verifying is one very useful skill to have in your repertoire.

NOTE: Recognise that you will not get along with everyone you come across. There will be times when you (unintentionally) elicit unpleasant feelings in others. Not because of what you said or did, just because you may remind him or her of someone they knew whom they did not have a good experience with for instance.

Don’t take it personally. It can happen to us all, however, if you try to twist yourself into a shape that doesn’t suit you then just to please them or get them to like you then you both suffer. Remember to remain true to yourself and be respectful of yourself and others. There are plenty more fish in the sea.