Digital Selling: The Pre- Call Plan

by Gerald George Mannikarote MBBS MBA

Digital Selling dMann training technologies — Digital Selling: The Pre- Call Plan

If you are in sales, you’ve probably heard of the pre- call plan. It’s what you do to prepare for your sales call. It’s kind of a road map of how you want your sales call to go. It provides you with a starting point and a destination or objectives and goals. If you are not in sales, but are looking to conduct business digitally, this will be a crucial part of your preparation to execute on your marketing strategies. This article will help you better understand developing the pre – call plan for your digital sales call.

Pre- call plan

Similar to preparing for your traditional sales call, it is important to prepare for your digital sales call. If you have a product you are selling, you should already have a clear idea of its features and benefits. You may also know your customer segment. But what about your specific, ideal customer? In order to do this you need to develop an avatar of your ideal customer.

Customer Avatar

When you develop your customer’s avatar, you need to have a clear idea of who you are selling to. Close your eyes and think. Imagine meeting them in person; shaking their hand. What do they look like? What sex are they? How old are they? What is their lifestyle? Do they play golf or do they watch documentaries? What kind of work do they do? What businesses are they in? What kind of clothes do they wear? Think of each minute detail of their lives. Note all of this information down. Build that customer avatar. This is an important step of your pre – call plan.

Solution selling

Now that you know your customer, it’s time to provide your customer with a solution. Simply listing out your features and benefits may not be the best way to approach this situation. You really need to think about your customer’s needs. If you’ve developed your customer avatar, you will know all about them. Why would they need your product or service? Think about how will your product or service help them.

Note down what you believe your customer’s needs are. Then note down your solutions offerings based on these needs. Does your product or service’s features and benefits provide a solution for your customer’s needs? If so, you’re on the right track. If not, you may not be in the best situation and you may want to review who your ideal customer is.

Moving onto the digital sale

Once you understand your product or service and your ideal customer, you will be prepared to begin your sale. When you engage your customer, think about what questions they may ask you. What objections do you think they may bring up? Write these down. You’ll soon be ready to engage your customer.

If you know your ideal customer, you will know where they spend their time. Are they on Facebook or LinkedIn? Do they scroll through Instagram or do they spend their time on Twitter? Are they on your email list? Do they have a strong open rate? Know your customer and engage them where they are.

Bringing it all together

So build your pre-call plan. Develop your customer avatar. Sell your solution. Soon you just might engage and sell to your customer like a seasoned salesperson.

Thanks for reading this article. I hope this helped you better understand the importance of planning your digital sales call.

What tips would you offer someone in regards to digital selling? Leave your thoughts in the comments. If you think someone could benefit from this, please tag them also. To receive a FREE digital pre call plan worksheet or an infographic on the digital sales process, please contact me at jerrydmann@dmanntraining.com and put either ‘Digital Pre Call Plan’ or ‘Digital Sales Process Infographic’ in the subject line.