Just Showing Up

There are always questions coming my way about how many calls to make in a week, how many presentations should be made in a day, how many new customers should be seen in a month, and so on. “Louis, how many calls will be the right number?” “Just give me a number that I should strive for.”

Are we all missing something? Remember that it's not just about the numbers.

True, there is no doubt that the more people you see and meet, the greater is the likelihood you are going to build your business. People do not buy from people they have never met; having a real face to match to a company is a great help.

So what is the answer? Exactly how many calls should you be making a day? It all depends on the definition of a sales call.

Can you do six or eight “presentation calls” in a day? Probably not. That would be between 30 and 40 sales calls a week. I am sure if I were to look at your sales call plans for the past year, I would be unable to find any representative with that m any appointments in any one week.

My thought is that you would probably be successful if you did even three to four “good” calls a day. A good call is one in which, during a scheduled appointment with a potential client, you have shared information about your programs and services and spent some time getting to know your customer. It is all about advancing relations.

Should you avoid making cold calls? Of course not. You need to play the law of averages and keep trying to see as many people as possible. Appointments cannot always be scheduled, so cold-calling is often your only opportunity to get in the door. You will get some rejections, but you will also find some acceptance as you make those calls throughout the week.

You should plan all of your appointments about 10 days in advance. You do not want to be coming into the office and then deciding what you are going to do for the day. Planning allows you to prepare more effectively what you are going to talk about to make sure you address the issues that are important to each account.

Schedule several in-service programs a week. Sales does have a lot to do with the numbers, so through an in-service program you will have the opportunity to meet more people. After the in-service, you can then set up individual appointments to begin a more personalized business relationship with this potential client.