The Selling Process

Preparation for the Sales Call

If a prospect has been qualified or if qualifying cannot take place until additional information is obtained (e.g., when first talking to the prospect), a salesperson’s next task is to prepare for an eventual sales call.  This activity in the selling process has two main objectives:

Learn More About the Customer

While during the lead generation and qualifying portion of the selling process a seller may have gained a great deal of knowledge about a customer, invariably there is much more to be known that will be helpful once an actual sales call is made.  The salesperson will use their research skills to learn about such issues as:

• who is the key decision maker
• what is the customer’s organizational structure
• what products are currently being purchased
• how are purchase decisions made

Salespeople can attempt to gather this information through several sources including: corporate research reports, information on the prospect’s website, conversations with non-competitive salespeople who have dealt with the prospect, website forums where industry information is discussed, and by asking questions when setting up sales meetings (see Arranging Prospect Contact).  Gaining this information can help prepare the salesperson for the sales presentation.  For example, if the salesperson learns which competitor currently supplies the prospect then the salesperson can tailor promotional material in a way that compares the seller’s products against products being purchased by the prospect.  Additionally, having more information about a prospect allows the salesperson to be more confident in his/her presentation and, consequently, come across as more knowledgeable when meeting with the prospect.

Arranging Prospect Contact

With some information about the prospect in-hand, the salesperson must then move to make initial contact.  In a few cases a salesperson may be fortunate to have the prospect contact her/him but in most cases salespeople will need to initiate contact.  In many ways arranging for contact is as much as selling effort as selling a product. 

There are two main approaches to arranging contact:

• Cold Calling for Presentation – A challenging way to contact a prospect is to attempt to conduct a sales meeting through a straight cold call.  In this approach the intention is to not only contact the prospect but to also give a sales presentation during this first contact period.  This approach can be difficult since the prospect may be irritated by having unannounced salespeople interrupt them and take time out of their busy work schedule to sit for a sales meeting.
• Cold Calling for Appointment – A better approach for most salespeople is to contact a prospect to set up an appointment in advance of the sales meeting.  The main advantages of making appointments is that it gives the salesperson additional time to prepare for the meeting and also, in the course of discussing an appointment, the salesperson may have the opportunity to gain more information from the prospect.  Of course, this way also has the added advantage of having the prospect agree to the sit for the meeting, which may make them more receptive to the product than if the salesperson had followed the Cold Calling for Presentation approach.