Planning Your Approach

Start the preparation by determining the objectives of the meeting, both for you and the customer.

Most sales managers agree that the margins separating good, very good, and excellent salespeople are not dependent upon what happens face-to-face, but what happens before and after the sales process. You may feel energized and ready to jump right into a sales meeting with a new customer, but if you spend time planning the content and thinking through the process, your chances of success will be greatly enhanced.

The first state of planning is getting your content right -- ensuring that you have all the information you need for every stage of the sales process. Start the preparation by determining the objectives of the meeting, both for you and the customer. Once these are established, ask yourself what you already know about the customer and what you still need to learn. There is no excuse for knot knowing what is going on in your customer's industry and marketplace.

ACTION POINT: Plan your objectives for each sales call.