Bradley Koettel

Sales And Marketing Specialist

How often are you preparing yourself for your sales calls?

This came up in a discussion... would love your feedback. As a professional seller, do you practice or train before big calls?

Does your sales role come with a side of sales training?

Attached poll

52%

Yes... just like a professional athlete we train frequently to prepare for game day.

30%

Sometimes... more like a casual golfer, we sometimes hit the range before we play.

19%

No... it's always go time and I never practice or train. I just do.

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23 comments

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Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Amount of prep varies but I prep for every client meeting

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

I consider prep and training different. Every meeting gets an element of prep, the big ones a bit more and i will pull in others to help with that. Training, not so much, just go get it done.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

100%. Asked for some clarification. We'll see if we get it.

Sales And Marketing Specialist

See above... hope that helps Jefe!

Sales And Marketing Specialist

(sorry for the copy paste... but this covers it pretty well I hope)

PREPARING for a big call, that's important for sure.

But TRAINING, that's a totally different thing.

Here is a great example that most people get. PREPARING for a big game means that you scout the other team, you look at tape of what they have done in the past, you learn about their tendencies in situations.

TRAINING for a big game means time working on your skills. Practicing the plays that you think are going to work. Working on basic blocking and tackling. Doing the day to day PHYSICAL WORK to be ready to go.

In sales... preparing is doing the research, getting the deck done, knowing who is coming to the "big meeting." Sales Training - this is all about learning new skills, practicing new (and old) skills, and working through how you are going to speak to objections, decision making, budget.

If you aren't doing the first... you aren't prepared for a meeting.
If you aren't doing the second... you aren't prepared for a meeting.

If you aren't doing either... maybe you should consider getting help.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

You use the word 'train'. I think most of us prep, but it seems like you might be talking about something more involved/specific.

Can you elaborate?

Sales And Marketing Specialist

PREPARING for a big call, that's important for sure.

But TRAINING, that's a totally different thing.

Here is a great example that most people get. PREPARING for a big game means that you scout the other team, you look at tape of what they have done in the past, you learn about their tendencies in situations.

TRAINING for a big game means time working on your skills. Practicing the plays that you think are going to work. Working on basic blocking and tackling. Doing the day to day PHYSICAL WORK to be ready to go.

In sales... preparing is doing the research, getting the deck done, knowing who is coming to the "big meeting." Sales Training - this is all about learning new skills, practicing new (and old) skills, and working through how you are going to speak to objections, decision making, budget.

If you aren't doing the first... you aren't prepared for a meeting.
If you aren't doing the second... you aren't prepared for a meeting.

If you aren't doing either... maybe you should consider getting help.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I absolutely prep before every big meeting, presentation, or demo.

Before my first call, I've gone through a lot of information about the account, the people involved, understood as much as I can about their business.

Heading into a deeper call or demo, prep is very key to make sure the message is getting across.

Further calls as we bring additional people into the call, we may huddle in advance to make sure we're aligned.

This isn't training, though, it's prep and working through strategic messaging and approaches, and making sure we're polished and prepared.

If you're talking about something different, please explain.

Sales And Marketing Specialist

(this was my reply to another similar questions Sunbunny31... sorry for the copy/paste but hopefully it helps)

PREPARING for a big call, that's important for sure.

But TRAINING, that's a totally different thing.

Here is a great example that most people get. PREPARING for a big game means that you scout the other team, you look at tape of what they have done in the past, you learn about their tendencies in situations.

TRAINING for a big game means time working on your skills. Practicing the plays that you think are going to work. Working on basic blocking and tackling. Doing the day to day PHYSICAL WORK to be ready to go.

In sales... preparing is doing the research, getting the deck done, knowing who is coming to the "big meeting." Sales Training - this is all about learning new skills, practicing new (and old) skills, and working through how you are going to speak to objections, decision making, budget.

If you aren't doing the first... you aren't prepared for a meeting.
If you aren't doing the second... you aren't prepared for a meeting.

If you aren't doing either... maybe you should consider getting help.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Well, I do pace around the house in advance of meetings working on my responses aloud so I'm practiced. So a bit of both? Most training is OTJ, though, working in real time to try out new plays to see how they work and refine them as I go. Discard what isn't effective and share with the team what's resonating.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Prep yes. Train? No.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Sniff...sniff sniff...

What you sellin?

Sales And Marketing Specialist

I'm a professional sales trainer... I'm just sharing what I teach my students.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Awesome! Feels like you're looking to add value to the War Room. Just remember to be concise and keep it brief.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

I do prep before every call especially demos as you know from discovery what they are expecting and might want to customize it to keep it relevant

Sales And Marketing Specialist

See my note above about PREPARING versus TRAINING.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I don’t understand the question. How often? Daily.
How well? That depends.

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

Depends, certainly for more formal presentations or visits I absolutely prep. For something more casual I try to have at least an idea but I’m not going to spend much time. Very situational.

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

if my reps don't prep like it's the Natty, they know they'll be publicly shamed. safe to say our prep is on POINT. prepare for ever scenario. difference between a deal or no deal is often how prepared you are

Space_Ghost20

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Current job? 10% of the time, maybe a bit more/less. Those are the 2nd or 3rd calls where I've already identified what they need or are interested in looking at. The rest I wouldn't even know how to prep for them individually. Most of the "companies" we sell to don't have websites, they're usually sole prop consulting side businesses so aside from the basic product training I did when I was onboarded there's no way to tailor the call.

At my other jobs? 100% of the time I prepped.

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

Cup of coffee for the small ones,have a prayer for the big ones:)

Snowey

Politicker

Account Executive

Prep always, amount varies on the type of call and prospect.

Sales And Marketing Specialist

Thanks everybody for your input... still see everybody struggling to from PREPARED to TRAINED. Hope I was able to share some insight for everybody... happy selling.

And remember... Growth Doesn't Happen In Your Comfort Zone.

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Bradley Koettel

How often are you preparing yourself for your sales calls?

Does your sales role come with a side of sales training?

23 comments

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