8 Constructive Tips for Pre-call Planning for a Successful Sales Call

A sales team doesn’t achieve sales call success in a snap. Sales winners aren’t born with special knowledge or abilities. If you ask any top sales call performers, they will tell you that they spent years honing their skills and constantly improving along the way.

The secret to success is in preparation.

*Enters pre-call planning*

Any stage in the sales funnel might involve executives reaching out to potential buyers, which requires pre-call planning. In this post, we’ll talk about constructive tips to elevate your pre-call planning and ensure the successful execution of sales calls.

Why Is Pre-call Planning Important?

With the help of pre-sales call planning, sales teams can:

• Learn more information about the customers
• Understand the ideal buyer persona
• Devise a strategy to sustain customers’ interests
• Increase the likelihood of securing a deal by refining the sales pitch

Planning for a sales call is crucial as it enables the sales team to determine the goals for the conversation with the buyer and how to achieve them. It benefits the salesperson in the following ways:

1. Increased Confidence

Confidence empowers them to make a positive first impression and helps them describe their services more clearly. With coherent strategies, sales executives can facilitate meaningful conversations with prospective buyers.

2. Effective Communication

Pre-call planning enables teams to strategise topics they would like to discuss during the sales call. Teams can thus ensure the buyer understands the product/service well and leaves the conversation with a complete picture in their minds.

3. Improved Adaptability

Sales call planning helps sales employees to respond to unexpected questions seamlessly even though they do not have an answer prepared. Pre-call planning enables them to understand the buyer and answer their questions more effectively.

Boost the Success Rate of Your Sales Call With These Tips

“Sweat more in practice, bleed less in war.” -Spartan Warrior Credo

If you do not invest sufficient time preparing for a sales call, you will soon realise the probability of closing the sale within a few seconds into the call — which is very less.

People are most likely to do business with you if you do the homework and come prepared. You must always gather your facts and then engage in conversation with the client. Implement the following points for advancing in your sales career:

1. Research the Company

Before calling the prospect, make sure you understand their business. Mentioned below are some of the best ways to learn key information about their company:

• Browse through their websites and learn about their vision and initiatives
• Learn how to pronounce their company name properly
• Review the latest events about the company through their social media handles, their website, or the news coverage
• Understand their position in the business journey — whether they’re expanding, shrinking, or sustaining
• Comprehend their issues and pain points

Having a thorough knowledge of the prospect’s business enables you to interact with them in an efficient way and provide suitable suggestions for their queries.

2. Assess Their Competition

Thorough competitor research will help you learn the challenges your client experiences. With this information, you can pitch the best suitable product/services to help them exceed their competitors.

Ask these questions to get a better understanding:

• Who are the direct competitors of your potential buyer?
• How many indirect competitors do they have?
• What tools/unique selling points distinguish your potential buyers from their competitors?

3. Connect With the Lead Representative

This one should come off as a no-brainer; knowing the person you will be conversing with is essential for communicating effectively. Go through their LinkedIn profile and research their professional history. Use the following questions to gain more insight:

• What are the prospect’s needs?
• Is this person the decision-maker?
• How could you help them?

Once you conduct the research, search for commonalities between you and the lead representative. Try to engage in a friendly conversation with them about these commonalities to build rapport.

4. Personalise Your Sales Pitch

Remember, all potential buyers are unique — even if they share the same buyer persona. Generic cold calling scripts won’t work. Your research can help you plan specific and personalised questions to move the sales conversation forward.

When you ask the right questions, it demonstrates your expertise, research, and knowledge about the prospect’s field of work. Check out these tips to draft a successful sales pitch.

5. Establish a Clear Goal

The overarching goal of any sales team is to close the deal. But not every sales call is about closing the sale.

Every sales call has its objective and goal. It highly varies from business to business and majorly depends on where you’re in the sales funnel. Some sales calls can be about understanding the prospects, some will be about propelling the deal forward, and others will be about closing the deal.

Your sales call will proceed differently based on your objectives. Therefore, ensure you establish an ideal outcome and take steps in that order for each sales call.

6. Timing Is Everything

Plan quick calls that take a minimum of time to check in with the client for the best time to connect. Let them know you are here to offer value that they are interested in.

You can give them an initial call in the morning and ask them to schedule a same-day chat later in the day by giving them a hook — a value proposition — in the first call.

7. Don’t Over-Prepare

The best sales calls are strategic but feel natural to the other party. Building relationships strengthens brand loyalty and increases buyers’ lifetime value.

Try not to overdo yourself. It will enable you to allow natural discussions and make you come across as more authentic than scripted and impersonal.

8. Keep Your Resources Nearby

Compile your research into a format that you can easily skim in a few seconds and keep your product/service documentation handy. If you get confused in the middle of the call, you can always look back and realign yourself.

Before making the sales call, ensure that you completely understand your reference materials.

Closing Thoughts

For successful sales calls, keep research at the centre of planning for every customer interaction and follow the tips mentioned above. Remember to learn specific things about lead representatives before getting in touch with them.

For more insights on pre-call sales planning, check out the comprehensive sales training program by Juno school. Join our interactive training sessions online and build a strong foundation to drive your sales career.