Plan Sales Pre-Call With Potential & Existing Customers: A Guide

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Updated: October 8th, 2022

What Is A Sales Call?

A sales call is an unsolicited phone call that a salesperson makes to a prospective customer to generate a business opportunity. Sales calls allow startups to convey important information about a product or a service.

Through a sales call, a prospect can learn about your new products or services, or even end up placing an order. Whether you are making the first call or your hundredth, sales calls can be challenging. Therefore, you need to plan appropriately to make a winning call.

In this post, we look at different tips you need to bear in mind when preparing for sales calls with prospects or existing customers.

Key Takeaways

Preparation is key no matter your relationship with the prospect/customer
Set a daily goal to contact new prospects
Effective voice-mail messages will get you more return calls
Always keep time or the next salesperson will overtake you

How Does A Sales Call Work?

"Sales calls" are pre-arranged face-to-face interactions with potential leads or existing customers.

The goal of these meetings is to make a sale and create a professional relationship or connection with your customer.

Oftentimes, the salesperson will prepare a presentation, marketing collateral and offer a gift to their prospect.

Examples Of Prospecting Calls That Convert

Mark is a sales professional who does great when it comes to prospecting calls. In this call, Mark has a well-outlined sales call script, that he uses to gain an audience from the prospect.

Initially, the prospect seems to be in a rush, but Mark assures him that the call wouldn’t take long.

What I Like about this call:

The introduction is short and to the point
The caller mentions how the service he is offering is of value to the prospect
Caller moves in to suggest a meeting and he is flexible about the date and time

Finally, the prospecting call is successful and they have agreed on the best time to meet.

2. A successful Sales Call by a Customer Care Representative

The second sales call example teaches how to build rapport, assume the sale, and how to overcome objections. In the call, the customer care representative builds rapport easily and ends up convincing the caller of the need to buy the service.

She overcomes the objection successfully, through two convincing reasons explained to the caller. Finally, the customer care representative closed the sale successfully.

Tips for Planning A Successful Sales Call

Know your prospects' needs including the particular pain points
Start with the right introduction and establish the connection
Aim for a balanced speaking-to-listening ratio
Know your call-to-action
Track the metrics
Be prepared to handle rejections

Creating a sales call script is the perfect way to plan the call. Therefore, take time to create a sales script that aligns with the customer's expectations.

meet the author

Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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