Showing Up

There are always questions coming my way about how many calls to make in a week, how many presentations to make in a day, how many new customers to see in a month.

There is no doubt that the more people you see and meet, the greater the likelihood that you are going to build your business. And it is extremely challenging to develop a positive business relationship with a customer you have never met and with whom you have no business rapport. People do not buy from people they have never met.

So what is the answer? How many calls should you be making?

That is all going to depend upon the definition of a sales call. Can you do six to eight presentation calls 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 many appointments (presentation calls) in any one week.

I think you would probably be successful if you did even three to four good calls a day. A good call is one where you have a scheduled appointment with a potential client, share information about your programs and services and spend some time getting to know your customer. It is all about advancing the relationship.

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

Here are some additional suggestions:

• Combine scheduled appointments with unplanned meetings or visits with clients to discuss your service. Try to determine if you are meeting customer expectations. Stop by to leave information on a new program or to deliver a follow-up report.

• Plan your appointments about 10 days in advance. You do not want to be getting into the office in the morning and then deciding what you are going to do for the day. Planning allows you to prepare what you are going to talk about and make sure you address the issues that are important to that account.

• Schedule several in-service programs a week. These programs will help you increase the number of people you can meet during a single sales meeting. Sales has much to do with reaching out to potential customers; through an in-service program, you will have the opportunity to meet many more people. Then you can set up individual appointments and begin to develop a more personal business relationship with the potential client.