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The Goal of a Sales Call

What is the goal of a sales call?
Close the sale?
Receive approval for your proposal?
Secure a meeting with the CEO?

Yes. These are all possible goals of sales meetings. But there is another goal that transcends all of these. The goal of every sales meeting—yes, every sales meeting—is to create a relationship-building encounter.

This is not what always happens in practice. Sales training has taught us the value of a solid, sequential sales process, where we have learned how each step in that process leads to the next step: The purpose of a cold call is to get a meeting, the purpose of the first meeting is to get a second meeting, and the purpose of the second meeting is to be invited to make a proposal, etc. Of course, these are natural steps in the sales process. But what happens frequently is that sales people are so focused on getting to the next step that they miss the chance to have a great encounter during the meeting they are in at the moment. (It's also very obvious to a customer if a salesperson is more focused on what they can "get" from this meeting than on having a good meeting at this time. They can see the salesperson thinking ahead.)

What great salespeople know is that the sequential sales process is subservient to the current meeting. They know that the best way to get to the next step in the process is to create a relationship-building encounter in the present. (I’ve got a free ebook, Encounters, available by subscription at my website, www.yastrow.com if you want to learn more about creating relationship-building encounters.)

When you focus on "now," the future will come of its own accord.

Steve Yastrow posted this on 08/07/08.

Comments

I'd say the difference between a good sales person and a bad one may come down to the analogy of a one night stand dinner date or a long term relationship.

Different tactics are used for the one night stand compared with the long term relationship... I'll leave you to fill in the blanks...

Customers are less monogamous as well and will switch if they don't feel loved...

Peter

Posted by Peter Cook at August 8, 2008 5:35 AM

The book isn't free: It's $10

Posted by Peeters at August 8, 2008 7:36 AM

Steve;

Thanks for the perspective on sales. I would add your point seems relevant to the goal of any customer interaction.

It seems we as business professionals put so much effort into "sales", and often less than we should into retention and satisfaction of those who currently influence our success.

Have a great weekend!

Posted by Roberto at August 8, 2008 7:54 AM

Yes, the ebook is free. All you have to do is sign up for the blog or newsletter, which you can unsubscribe from anytime. If you don't want to do that, email me at steve-at-yastrow. com and I'll send it to you.

Posted by Steve Yastrow at August 8, 2008 8:49 AM

Nice post...Well, I believe the goal of a sales-person from:

your boss’s perspective would be to close the sale & gets the deal done
your organization’s perspective would be in building strong relationships
your competitor’s perspective would be to kill him, dammit!
your perspective would be, increased sales commission!
your family’s perspective would be incremental shopping / vacations...

and the list goes on and on…bottom line – your perspective to the goal is more important than the goal itself.

Posted by K.Sriram at August 9, 2008 12:05 AM

Tom:

In the professions, at least, too much focus on a sale is offputting. Imagine a neurosurgon pushing for an advance in the sale, and you will have a sense of what it feels like to buy from an over eager management consultant, attorney or other professional. Your objective should be to help the clieent with her problem. If you are the right person to hire, then, yes, you want to make a sale, but there has to me a match between the client's need and your capabilities. If not, you will try to refer the client to someone who can help her or get out of the way. The degree of match is what the client and you are trying to figure out.

If the client feels that you want to help, not just sell, she will meet with you again.

Ford Harding

Posted by Ford Harding at August 10, 2008 7:38 AM

The most productive sales calls are usually when the prospect is genuinely curious and excited by what they have seen and heard. No selling required!

Posted by Mark McClure / Career Change at August 14, 2008 8:33 AM

I posted this article earlier this week. Using a different argument it arrives at the same conclusion.

"How to Get Customers Flocking Back to Your Salespeople"
http://www.omghub.com/salesdevelopmentblog/tabid/5809/bid/6219/Getting-Customers-to-Flock-Back-to-Your-Salespeople.aspx

Posted by Dave Kurlan at August 14, 2008 2:13 PM 150 mg viagra