Your pre-call & post-call checklist

Your pre-call and post-call checklist should allow you to tick off your achievements as you make them – you’ll feel much more in control. How well did your last sales call go? Did you achieve what you set out to achieve? Do you know what your next course of action will be with that customer/prospect? Do you have evidence that a real sales opportunity exists?

Using a pre-call and post-call checklist is a very useful process when assessing the effectiveness of your sales calls.

Too many sales people, however, invest too little time thinking about and planning their approach to developing prospective sales opportunities. Many sales opportunities involve a range of variables that need to be accounted for and acted upon if they are to achieve a successful sales outcome.

Most of us do not work in businesses where you can get an immediate sales result from one contact only. There are often several steps to achieving a successful sale, and like a good chess player you need to think several steps ahead.

So why leave your sales opportunities to chance?

Showing up with little or no plan leaves you looking unprofessional in the eyes of the customer. And you can’t afford that in today’s tough and competitive market place.

You may like to use the following checklist to maximise your sales efforts.

Pre-call checklist:

Questions to consider before calling on a new prospect or an existing customer:

• What is my call objective?
• Who do I need to speak to in this business/division/partnership/family?
• Who is the key decision maker(s)?
• Who is a main influence(s)?
• What potential obstacles exist that will threaten the sale?
• What stage am I at in the sales cycle?
• How will I open the call?
• What information do I have?
• What information do I need to find out?
• What sort of objections emerge out and how will I handle them?
• What’s my fall back position?

Post-call checklist:

Questions to consider when reviewing your customer sales interaction:

• Did I achieve my objective?
• What went right?
• What went wrong?
• What information did I gather?
• What evidence do I have that this is still a viable sales opportunity?
• Did I advance the sale to the next stage?
• What will be my next move?
• Who else needs to be involved in the process?
• What else do I need to do to progress the sale to the next stage?
• When am I next going to see or speak to this customer?
• What will be my next call objective?

It is important that you review each of your calls to determine how you went and how you could improve. This tracking process is important for two reasons:

1. 1. It allows you to determine where you are at in the sales process with that particular customer, paving the way for key action items.
2. It results in a process of continuous improvement, allowing you to continuously improve upon your prospecting skills as you review what worked well and what did not work well.

Sue Barrett is Managing Director of BARRETT Pty Ltd. Sue is an experienced consultant and trained coach and facilitator. Sue and her team are best known for their work in creating High Performing Sales Teams. Key to their success is working with the whole person and integrating emotional intelligence, skill, knowledge, behaviour, process and strategy via effective training and coaching programs. For more information please go to www.barrett.com.au

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