Make the right moves from preparation to closing.

It’s always good to have a plan for your sales visits that can serve as a quick reminder of the essentials. Use this checklist as a review before and after each sales call to make sure you cover all the bases. Leaving a sales call and wishing you had remembered to ask a specific question or show the prospect another product idea is a horrible feeling; using this checklist may help you avoid that. Edit it based on the type of sales cycle you’re involved in.

SALES CALL CHECKLIST

1. Preparation prior to sales call

Did I:

• Research the account prior to the call?
• Learn something about the person and their business before the meeting?
• Send an outline of the agenda to the client before the meeting?
• Prepare three value-added points?
• Bring all materials, brochures, contracts, etc.?
• Answer the three important pre-call questions:
• A. What is the goal of the call?
• B. What do I need to find out?
• C. What’s the next step after the call?

2. Greeting and introduction

Did I:

• Observe the prospect’s office décor?
• Find out about the prospect’s personal interests, hobbies, family and so on?
• Find out the names of contacts in the account and write them down?
• Bridge to the business topic smoothly?
• Listen more than I spoke? (Ideally, you should spend 80% of your time listening and only 20% talking.)
• Ask the customer about business goals?
• Ask the customer about challenges?

3. Qualifying

Did I:

• Find out who the decision-makers are by asking ”Who else besides yourself is involved in decision-making?“
• Ask what process they normally follow when considering a new vendor?
• Find out how and why they made the decision for their current product or service (assuming they are replacing a product or service)?
• Find out what their time frame is?
• Find out if funds have been allocated – and how much?
• Find out their specific needs?
• Ask what they would change about their product or service?

4. Surveying

Did I:

• Ask open-ended questions (who, what, where, when, why, how, how much, tell me about it, describe for me)?
• Ask about the corporate structure?
• Ask about the prospect’s role at the company?
• Ask what’s interesting and important to them and focus on that?
• Ask what risks they perceive?
• Ask how we can help solve their problems?
• Ask what they think about our company?
• Ask what they like and dislike about their current vendor?
• Ask how industry trends are affecting them?
• Ask “what if?” questions?
• Ask what suport they would like after the sale?
• Ask what their short-term and long-term goals are?
• Ask how I can become their most valued vendor?
• Ask what is our next step?
• Establish a follow-up schedule?
• Parrot the prospect to encourage him to expand, elaborate and go into detail about each answer?

5. Handling objections

Did I:

• Listen to the entire objection?
• Pause for three seconds before responding?
• Remain calm, not defensive?
• Meet the objection with a question to find out more?
• Restate the objection to make sure we agreed (communication)?
• Answer the objection?
• Complete these six-steps?
• 1. Listen
• 2. Define
• 3. Rephrase
• 4. Isolate
• 5. Present solution
• 6. Close (or next step)

6. Presentation

Did I:

• Prioritise the prospect’s needs?
• Talk about benefits?
• Use layman’s terms?
• Link the benefit to needs?
• Verify each need before moving on?
• Present myself, company and product in a positive light?
• Re-establish rapport?
• Ask if anything changed since our last meeting?
• Pre-commit the prospect?
• Give a general overview of the product or service?
• Keep the presentation focused on needs?
• Involve the customer in the presentation?
• Summarise needs and how your offering meets them?

7. Closing

Did I:

• Get the customer to identify all possible problems that might be solved by my product or service?
• Get the customer to identify the value of solving the identified problems?
• Get agreement that the proposed solution provides the values identified?
• Ask for the order (“Why don’t we go ahead with this?”)?

8. Customer maintenance

Did I:

• Write thank you letters for appointments and orders?
• Earn the right to ask for references and referrals?
• Establish a schedule for follow-up calls and visits?
• Ask for referrals (“Do you know three people who could benefit from my product and service like you did?”)?
• Send thank you notes to lost accounts?
• Ask what are three important things we can do as a vendor to keep our relationship strong?

This checklist will help you stay focused. Every time you schedule a sales call, run through it to prepare and to see what you can do next time to increase your chances of success.