Don't throw yourself off the cliff!

I don't like heights. You won't find me abseiling or parachute-jumping (so why I tried the RAF section of CCF as a teenager stumps me...) If you do decide to go abseiling though, even if you have the head for heights, you will make sure you have the right kit. You will have the right training. You might well have your trainer on hand the first few times. You will have a team around you. You will have a plan to keep you safe. The idea is not to jump off a cliff an see what happens; it's to scale down in a way that is challenging but that won't damage you.

So why is it that so many business owners and salespeople rush into appointments without any safety kit? Why are they happy to, metaphorically, jump off a cliff and hope they land OK? 

It can only be for two reasons. The first is that they don't know any better. They haven't studied how to do a sales meeting and they just trust to instinct (and luck). The second is that they know so much, they have so much experience, that they know they can handle anything and don't need all that safety stuff. Neither of these make much sense. If your revenue and success depends on successful outcomes of meetings then you should make it your business to know how to plan and run a sales meeting. If you are a veteran, then you should know how valuable the safety ropes are.

So what are the safety ropes for a sales meeting? Its a "pre-call plan". What should go in it?

Well, ideally it's a one-page document that you can scan moments before your meeting starts. It should have detail about the people and the organisation you are meeting. It should have your mutually agreed up-front contract, what pain you suspect they have, what questions you are going to ask, what questions they are likely to ask you (and your superbly practiced answers) and your attitude to the meeting.

I take my clients through how to put these together. What difference does it make, having a pre-call plan? It keeps you balanced, in control, maintaining your equal business stature. That gives you such an advantage that it inevitably increases the chances of a sale. They don't take long to write (some of it will be cut-and-paste!). So why wouldn't you have your safety kit?