Smart Calling, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 5Setting Smart Call Objectives and Never Being Rejected Again

Unless you like to joyride, you usually don’t get in your vehicle and say, “I’m going to start driving and see what happens.” No, you have a specific destination in mind. Then you figure out what route you need to take to get there.

However, sales reps often take an impromptu, poorly prepared approach with their potential clients, beginning prospecting calls like an unfocused driver. They start talking about a given topic but meander around in circles, never reaching a destination because they didn’t establish one. Maybe you’ve had a call that left you shaking your head, thinking, “What just happened? I was all over the place.” Instead, remember Habit Two from Steven Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: “Begin with the end in mind.”

In individual coaching sessions with sales reps, I always ask for their objectives before calls. I hear such things as:

• “I want to see who they’re buying from now.”
• “I’d like to qualify and send out some info.”
• “I want to see if they have any needs.”

While those should be goals, none of them are primary objectives because none are the end result you’re looking for on a call. That is your primary objective.

In order to maximize your chances for success on your calls, you need to begin by setting and focusing on the end result you desire. I define your primary objective as what you want the person on the other end to do as a result of the call—emphasis on the ...