Sales Skills #2 - Sales Call Planning

Most salespeople think of sales call planning as a task to do before making "the call". Initial research is done on the company and maybe on the prospect and finally the salesperson feels ready to make "the pitch".

FACT: 99% of Salespeople Fail to Set the Right Call Objectives

This is not surprising since most companies lack a formal sales process. Even fewer have a documented "Best Sales Practices."

Moving the Sale Forward

Action Selling gives salespeople a sales call planning structure that focuses them on one objective: To Move the Sale Forward. This structure can be best described as a series of pre-determined Milestones and Commitment Objectives. Milestones are all the "next-step" tasks that must be performed before a successful sale takes place. A Commitment Objective is what the salesperson needs to accomplish in order to move to the next Milestone. The image below illustrates this sales call planning structure.

Commitment Objective

"A goal we set for ourselves to gain agreement from our customer that moves the sales process forward."

Action Selling teaches salespeople how to set a Commitment Objective for every Milestone of the sale.

Mastering this key sales skill unlocks more sales potential more quickly than any other. With Action Selling, the entire sales process gains momentum. Salespeople win more business - at higher margins - while decreasing sales cycle time.

Improve Sales Call Planning Skills Now

Take our Free Benchmark Sales Skills Assessment to get detailed recommendations on how to master this skill.

Go to Sales Skill #3: Questioning Skills