The Power of Selling, 2010a

8.3 Identify Precall Objectives: Getting Smart about Your Sales
Call
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
1. Learn how to set SMART precall objectives.
Identifying your prospect’s need is only part of your preapproach research. There’s still more
research and planning for you to do before you meet with or speak to the customer.
Determine Your Objectives
If you haven’t determined what you hope to achieve before going into your sales call, it will be difficult to
figure out what to say once you arrive or once you have your prospect on the phone.
Setting precall objectives is a strategically important step. If you have clear goals, you will be more
confident and appear more organized, and it’s more likely that you will see results. Your customers are
busy people, and you don’t want to waste their time. They will appreciate your organization and will be
more likely to trust your judgment if you come prepared. You also don’t want to waste your time or your
company’s time. According to Hoovers, the average sales call costs a company nearly $400! [1]
As you plan your meeting, ask yourself this question: “What will success look like for this call?” [2] That
may seem like a question with a straightforward answer, but success doesn’t always mean closing the sale.
In some situations, you’ll experience a one-call close, but with larger sales, particularly in B2B sales,
the sales cycle, or the length of time it takes to go from the first contact with the customer to closing the
sale, is generally longer—sometimes even taking up to a year or longer. Consider Telegraph Hill Robes, a
San Francisco-based company that sells bathrobes to upscale hotels with spas. Buying enough bathrobes
to stock a hotel spa is a large investment, one that most customers have to carefully consider. The sale has
to clear with two contacts at every company: the general manager and the head of housekeeping. As a
result, when Telegraph Hill first started selling its product in 1996, its average sales cycle was two years! [3]
If you know that you are facing a longer sales cycle, the goal of your initial call might be gathering and
conveying specific information to move forward in the sales process or further qualify your prospect.
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