Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

It's Only Common Sense: Be Prepared or Stay in the Car

Editor's Note: To listen to Dan's weekly column, as you've always done in the past, click here. For the written transcript, keep reading...If you don't have a plan, stay in the car. Wouldn't it be crazy if, after going to all the trouble of setting up an appointment with a prospective customer, you decide to wing it, to make it up as you go? Doesn’t make much sense when you put it this way, does it? Always remember this little adage: If you don’t have a plan, stay in the car.You have to be prepared. You have to rehearse and you have to know what you want to accomplish during the meeting. After all, this meeting--any meeting for that matter--is a vital step on the way to making a sale. Prepare well for that meeting. Not being prepared shows a lack of respect for your customer, for yourself, and for sales as a profession.Below is a letter that is printed on page 136 of a great book by Chris Lytle called The Accidental Salesperson. The letter was written by Ellen Armstrong, a sales prospect, who knows exactly what she wants from the salespeople who come in to meet with her.To: All Sales RepresentativesFrom: Ellen ArmstrongSubject: Conditions to seeing me

You have requested some of my valuable time. I understand that it is your job. But please understand that if I saw every sales rep who requested an appointment, it would leave me no time to deal with my other responsibilities. I may agree to see you if you adhere to the following guidelines: 

• Do not attempt to sell me anything until you understand my needs, challenges, and past experiences.
• Do not pressure me into doing business with you. The more you push the less I will respond.
• Don’t demean and criticize your competitors. If you do, I will ask you to leave. I don’t mind if you make valid comparisons. Gossip, however, contributes nothing of value to my business.
• Be clear, concise, and articulate. If I agree to see you, I expect you to describe with the highest degree of professionalism how your product will benefit my business. If you ramble, you will lose my attention.
• I prefer ideas rather than programs. Be prepared to offer me your best ideas and opportunities. Programs that give me a “good deal” on products that don’t best fit my needs tend to work better for you than for me. Show me plans that you would buy if you were me.
• Be a resource. Learn about my business and show me that you care. You can’t get results for me if you don’t know what’s going on in my world.
• Listen as much as you talk, and don’t waste my time.

Now you have my conditions for an appointment. Please sign it and mail it back to me. Then, call again and I will consider giving you my valuable time.

Thank you, Ms. Armstrong. This is certainly as succinct as you’re ever going to find instructions from any buyer. This letter of agreement says in a little under 300 words what every salesperson should take to heart when making a sales call.

I think she gives us particularly good advice in her sixth point when she tells us to learn about her business. She tells us to show her that we care enough to go out and do some research on her company. After all, in today’s world, that just means hitting the Internet with a few clicks and finding out a huge amount of information about any company. By doing this you can save yourself and your prospect a lot of time. This way you won’t be insulting the buyer’s intelligence by asking basic, mundane questions that you could easily pick up from the company’s website. The buyer knows this and you should know it as well.

And her final point may be her most valuable one. Listen more than you talk. Oh, how valuable this piece of advice is. And how many times have we heard and read this advice? But for some reason, we don’t follow it. We are always so anxious to get our point across, to give the prospect our pitch or even our elevator talk that we don’t stop to listen, to hear what the prospect is trying to tell us.

It boils down to this, folks: If you listen more than you talk you will seem more intelligent than you are. If you are willing to take the time to listen, and listen in a manner that shows active interest in what the speaker is saying, you will find your way to your sales pitch. Why keep guessing what the customer wants when all you have to do is listen and she will tell you?

After all, it’s only common sense.