Ø Pre-Plan  > Execute  >Evaluate  >Re-Execute

By: Gary D. Seale

Trucon Communications

July 7, 2022

 

Sales Pre-Planning Essentials

Planning to execute an action plan in almost any endeavor is an absolute necessity. With the exception of a couple of kiddos getting together to play, the failure to plan is to prepare to fail. Even the simplest of mundane weekend gotta do’s requires some level of planning to achieve a small level of efficiency and mission accomplishment. Going to the grocery store, buying gas, a stop into the hardware store and running by the cleaners necessitates purchase lists, money availability, routing, and time availability pre-planning.

No matter how tempting it is to put our mind into a free-fall state, it simply defies all logic to not plan. Look at the difference between high-school, college, and pro-level sports teams. The well-funded and most successful programs have broken down every component of the game into quantifiable metrics. These identified measurements allow them to work on improving strengths, addressing weaknesses, and training the athletes to perform at their maximum capacity. This requires creative thinking, market research, and sufficient repetition to drill the plays into the minds of the players so that when the play is called on the field there is no hesitation or flaw in running the play. Of course, there are constraints to running your business plays in the field. They are frequently called competition. I will address those issues in the evaluation segment of this paper.

In the field of professional selling, pre-planning must be at the forefront of every professional’s mind because of the time management and focus required to be a success in this extremely competitive selling environment. Even on a daily basis, I have found that my productivity decreases drastically when I start the day without some concrete sales and marketing goals. These daily goals should be seen as your mission efforts, which are derived from the vision you have established for your company. These daily efforts are also predicated on your personal answer to the question; Why am I doing this?

For the smaller firms that rely on their sale’s team members to develop and execute a marketing plan in addition to the selling function; pre-planning is an even more critical function. Pre-planning will include an evaluation of the most effective marketing tools for their industry and company, learning how to operate with the technology and of course identifying the true target market for their products.

The majority of the distribution, manufacturing, and services sales and marketing teams have by now migrated over into digital marketing efforts with the sales teams poised to follow up with in person engagement to close business opportunities.

As previously mentioned, the smaller firms are delegating digital marketing to their sales team members and perhaps a marketing sub-contractor.

The sales team should also be aware of the concept called solution selling. This concept is defined as presenting a solution to the customer’s issues in your field of expertise without going through a series of questions to determine the prospects concerns. This level of pre-planning will require a level of intense preparation or having a sales team with a deep experience level in the prospect’s industry.

The solutions should be creative, detailed, verifiable, and come with an implementation plan.   I was part of a presentation to a huge ALCOA facility in Texas some years ago, where my company virtually left no stone unturned when we made our presentation to take over the safety equipment and services contract at the site. We won the business, displacing a trusted existing supplier based on our detailed explanation of the benefits we could bring to ALCOA.

During the approach to compete for a one-time purchase of equipment or service, it is important to put your thoughts into what the customer’s deepest needs are and how your company will address those needs. This starts with a macro approach, where everyone on the team knows the big picture. Then individuals on your team with knowledge and experience are assigned to address the customer’s issues as if the business was secured. This may require collaboration with external suppliers and internal associates to present the highest quality response that will earn the prospect’s business.

I led a team of associates that secured the self-contained breathing apparatus business at the City of San Antonio Fire Department  ($500,000 initial order) a number of years ago. The process included discovery of the need, collaboration with the manufacturer (SCOTT Aviation), conferring with senior management with my company (Vallen) and the City of San Antonio. The efforts included site tours of offices, warehousing, and repair facilities in Houston, plus commitments for post purchase training of the city repair technicians and fire fighters. The final last-ditch effort came from a push by the fire fighter’s union prompted by me. Finally, the business was won over an existing brand supplier and via a price concession from Scott and Vallen.  

I cannot stress enough that every action you take should be contributing to the master plan you have for your business. No matter how fun it is to talk about the big success stories, keep in mind that it’s the small incremental steps you plan and take every day that contribute to your big wins.

Plan, Plan, Plan!