Christian salespeople strive to be excellent at their jobs, while reflecting their Christian lifestyle.  That means adhering to certain principles and building certain best practices into their routines.  One such practice is “planning & preparing.” 

In my first professional selling position, I was sent to the company’s headquarters in Mill Valley, CA for six weeks of sales training.  There, we memorized two single-spaced, two-page presentations.  We gave the presentations to the assembled training class, and then watched the video replay, which was accompanied by a critique from the managers and other salespeople. 

And then, we did it again.  And again. And again. Until, at the end of the six weeks, we could give that presentation forwards and backwards. We were prepared.

Later, for another sales position, I spent six weeks in sales training on the other coast – this time New York city. Every day, when we sat down in the training room, there was a quiz on our desk.  Anyone who did not achieve at least 80% was sent home.  The training class began with 26 and ended with 12. But the twelve of us were prepared.

For many salespeople, both seem like overkill.  Did we really need to be perfect at those presentations? 

From the company’s point of view, YES.  Both of these companies highly valued the quality of the presentations made by their representatives and worked to make sure they were accurate. 

Which brings us to one of the primary benefits of preparation – it allows you to control the quality of the presentation.  If you are OK with a sloppy presentation, potential inaccuracies and gaping holes, then don’t prepare.  If you want an accurate, persuasive presentation, prepare it beforehand.

One of my rules for B2B salespeople.  “You’ll always do better if you have prepared.”

I know. It sounds incredibly simple.  Who doesn’t know that?

But knowing isn’t the problem.  Doing is.  It is one thing to know it and quite another to do it. 

And too many salespeople let the press of distractions and the muddle of countless tasks eliminate preparation time.  So, they claim they are “too busy” to prepare and continue on with less-than-ideal results due to their lack of preparation.

Planning and preparing go hand-in-hand.

When I returned from my training in Mill Valley, my manager said to me, “Spend 20% of your time planning and preparing for the other 80% and you’ll be much more effective.”  He was right, and that was good advice.

Here’s why:

1. Effective planning focuses you on the most important things. Instead of reacting to the onslaught of things to do, you filter through all the possibilities and identify the highest priority, highest potential, most important things. That alone will save you hours spent on the wrong things.
2. Preparation builds your confidence. As a veteran sales training, I’ve often addressed issues of lack of confidence. I’ve come to the conclusion that confidence comes from experience and/or preparation. If you are a football player, and you have successfully run a certain play multiple times, you are confident in it. So too, if you have practiced it 100 times.

So too in sales. It’s one thing to attempt a presentation with little experience, and it another to have thoroughly practiced it. We’ve all heard the expression: “Practice makes perfect.”

And Vince Lombardi is said to have observed: “It’s not the will to win that’s important. Everyone wants to win.  It is the will to practice that makes the difference.”

3. Planning and preparing bring out the best in you. You may be quick on your feet, great at ad-libbing and a smooth talker, but you’ll always be better if you prepare.
4. Preparing allows you to focus on the customer. If you haven’t prepared, you work at finding the right words. Your focus is inward, on yourself.

If you have prepared, you already have the right words, so you can focus on what the customer is thinking and feeling.

The routine

           Planning and preparing is a discipline.  In other words, it is something positive you do whether you feel like it or not. You do it because you decide to do it and you know that it is good for you to do it.

           If you are committed to doing it well, you’ll create a routine and stick to it.  I recommend:

• – An annual planning retreat of two to three days where you review your annual goals, prioritize your accounts, RE-arrange your travel schedules, and organize your files.
• – A monthly review and fine-tune planning. Invest two to three hours to review your plans, reassess your opportunities and make fine-tuning adjustments.
• – A weekly plan for each day of the week. Invest 30 minutes on Saturday morning or Sunday evening, getting yourself organized and prepared for the week.
• – A daily plan for every day. Take 15 minutes at the end of the day to get yourself organized and prepared for the next day.
• – A plan for every sales call. Five minutes before every sales call to ensure you have an agenda and are prepared to execute it with excellence.

1. 
   

It is easy to skip these planning & preparing moments.  The onslaught of distractions and ‘things to do” is enticing. The best salespeople understand, however, that mindfully proacting brings dramatically better results than mindless reacting.  And so, they invest the time in a disciplined approach to planning and preparing.  It’s a best practice of the best salespeople.

If you’re ready to:

                     – Sharpen your skills 

                     – Increase your sales and income 

                     – And build a career you can be proud of 

…then I invite you to join me as a member of the Kahle Way B2B Sales Excellence Club – Christian salesperson track.

           The Kahle Way ® Sales Excellence Club is a practical, ongoing system to help serious B2B salespeople consistently grow their sales, confidence, and career while having an impact on the Kingdom.

           Specialty tracks for Christian Salespeople and Sales Leaders.

                                            Learn more here.