Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

It's Only Common Sense: When Not on the Road

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...The time you spend in preparation can be as important (if not more) than the time you spend selling. It’s all about selling. Here are 10 things you should be doing on those days when you’re not on the road in front of customers.

1. Update your account plans for your current customers. Always collect as much information as possible about each of them. Register them in Google Alerts so that you'll see anything that appears in the media about them. Develop sales plans and strategies to better service customers--this makes you more valuable to them and helps you gain more of their business.

2. Lead generation is the backbone of all sales efforts. Always look for the right customers for your company. Create an ideal customer filter and use it to find and qualify potential customers. Make a list and start planning how you're going to make them your customers.

3. Warm up your cold calls by sending potential customers information about your company. Make sure the information you send is of value to them; make sure it is attractive and well-written, as well as provocative enough for them to look forward to hearing from you. This initial contact can be in the form of a letter with a brochure, an e-mail, or a newsletter. One good idea is to send potential customers a clipping or copy of an article or some other piece of information you saw about them so they know you are doing your homework and are qualified to help them meet their needs. I have often found that they have not seen the article and are pleased to be receiving it. In any case, send them something so they will remember you when you call…and, yes, tell them you will be calling them. Don’t be afraid to give a date and time.

4. Make those calls. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what sales is all about: Calling someone you don’t know, who doesn’t know you, and asking him or her to do something they probably don’t want to do. Yes, it can be chilling and nerve-wracking, but this is all part of the job. In many cases, the most important part of the job.

5. Plan your sales call carefully. Choreograph what you are going to say. Plan a message to leave when you get voicemail. You will get voicemail more often than not, so don't let that discourage you. Plan on it and develop a provocative message to leave on their voice mail. Many interesting books include valuable sections on cold calling, even down to the type of message to leave. Proactive Selling by William “Skip” Miller is one such book. Set goals for your phone call and break down the sales process into steps. In this case, you'll want to tell the potential customer who you are and what you sell. Then, try to engage her in a conversation about her company and what they need in terms of your kind of product or service. The final goal here is to go to the next step: The appointment.

6. Schedule your meetings for when you do hit the road. Doing this right is critical to a productive sales trip. Making your time on the road as useful and constructive as possible depends on what you do when you’re in the office. Schedule your visits as far out as possible. This makes it easier for the customer to say “yes.” A good sales person will have a two-month rolling schedule. She will not only know where she is going to be next week, but also next month and two months from now. When she is on the phone calling customers with the intent of making appointments she should have at least a two-month calendar in front of her. That way she can provide the target with enough options that they will certainly have to pick one--increasing her odds of making that first live meeting. She can plan those meetings with new customers around the meetings she is scheduling with her steady customers. I repeat: Schedule your sales visits at least two months in advance.

7. Work on your sales presentation. Know what you're going to say when you finally get in front of a potential customer. Good sales people don't wing it; they don’t count on figuring out what they are going to say once they're in front of the customer. Instead, they plan and they practice. They learn everything they can about the company they're about to visit and they figure out the best way to proceed once they're in front of that customer.

8. Follow up with the customers you've already visited. Do not make the mistake of letting them go cold again. You certainly worked hard enough to start the relationship now keep it going. I’ve been told by many buyers that the biggest mistake sales people make is not staying in touch. This is just plain stupid. After all of that hard work you just let the customer go? Don’t make that mistake.

9. Nurture new customers. Make sure that once they start giving you RFQs that your company does everything in their power to win the business. Educate your team on the new customer and how important he is to the company. Tell them about his company, what they build, what they are like, and their position in their market. Make the customers real to the people within your own company. It will be time well spent.

10. Work at being a great salesperson. Read books, take courses, and listen to lectures and audio books. It's your job to be the best salesperson you can be--not only for your company, but for yourself. You are, after all, your product--make sure you're the best you can be.

Finally, remember that a day spent in the office is not a day off. It is as important as your time in front of your customers. What you are working on today can develop into tomorrow’s success. It’s great that you booked that big order today and that you’re having a great week or a great month, but don’t let that stop you from working that much harder to make sure you also have a great future. It’s only common sense.