The Most Important Element of Sales: Preparation.

Most sales are closed before the meeting even starts.

Sounds crazy, right? Today, on average, 57% of a purchase decision is complete before a customer contacts a supplier. Customers research online and have a clear view of all of your competitors’ products and benefits. Customers don’t want to spend time discussing “what keeps them up at night” and are further into a decision around how to solve their biggest problems before you ever come into contact with them.

In this new era of hyper-informed customers, sellers have no option but to to radically change the sales strategy. As a salesperson, you need to meet customers where they are – which is much deeper into the decision cycle.

One way to boost your sales success: prepare, prepare, prepare. Follow a strict methodology when prepping for every engagement. Have a pre-call plan. Come to every meeting ready to provide new, relevant insight and impact decisions.

To understand why and how to prepare for a sales call, I’m including some tips in video form below.

How do you prepare for consistent sales success? What tools or techniques help you prepare?

Ryan Estis & Associates is a training and development organization helping companies, leaders, sales people and individual contributors embrace change and achieve breakthrough performance in the new economy. We offer keynotes, live classroom training and online learning that blends interaction, energy and actionable content designed to elevate performance. Contact us for programming inquiries and assistance determining the curriculum that could best support your learning and development objectives.