What are some ways that you prepare before making your calls?

I agree with Tina, having an “end in mind" or goal for your call is a good place to start when developing a call plan. In my case, I am calling on prospects who execute and manage marketing programs or, more specifically, run demand generation programs and are looking to accomplish lead generation and overall brand awareness on the internet.

Goals for my conversation:

1) Discover the level of awareness the prospect has for my company and our products and services.
2) Depending on what the prospect does know, give a brief overview of my company explaining how this applies to them.
3) Last, but the most important and main goal for my call, is to engage the prospect enough that they agree to a follow up conversation with an account executive on my team.

To make sure I am prepared for this call and accomplish the above goals, I go to the internet to research my prospects. The 3 most valuable pieces of data I gather before going on a call is what the company does, where they are marketing on the internet, and what specific job functions the prospect is responsible for. I search on competing sites for banner ads they have in place, events they may have sponsored, and their overall presence on the web. To identify job functions and responsibilities, I use Linked In to ensure I have a general understanding of what the prospects responsibilities are, and check their areas of interest so I can highlight how these match our offering.

I also will do a scan of our CRM system to see any past interactions we have had or campaigns we have ran with the company. I can see any content of ours they have received or events they have attended, and all of this helps to build rapport and let them know why this is relevant and should speak with me and our organization.

Hi Mark! We counsel learning at least these two fundamentals ...

What the organization does for a living. Avoids the silly and all-too-common, "So, tell me a little bit about your business."

A relevant event in the organization's business life ... recent past, present, or pending, on which the caller can build a conversation (not make a pitch.) By doing so, the dialogue can be about the contact, making it more likely that they will engage. You can usually find a relevant event at their web site.

Go gettum, sir!

Assuming you know who you are trying to reach, online bios in the 'Management Team' section of the corporate website are a fantastic resource that should never be ignored. It reveals key talking points that will separate you from every other sales call if you can find common ground. Tidbits like their kids names, where they went to college, what charities they support and past companies they worked for are golden conversational nuggets. Plus, it shows you care enough to do research before calling blindly. If there's no online bio, search them out on Google, LinkedIn and other places online, and remember to filter by city or company to be sure you get the right person with that name.

Being able to ask, "How was Jonny's soccer season? I saw you were the coach." or "Sorry your team lost last week" will go farther than "How does your company handle (insert problem here)?" building rapport.

Also, if you don't know who you're calling on...your problem starts there....figure that out before picking up the phone.

I start with the "end in mind," meaning I have clearly articulated on my call plan what I would like to achieve at the end of the call, i.e. a chance to discuss our solution further, an on-site meeting to explore client objectives regarding virtualization, etc. In order to have the ability to get to that goal, I always use a call plan done in advance, which so I have some background on the company, prior calls made or research done.

Hi Mark,

As Tina said above, start with the old Steven Covey approach as in "begin with the end in mind" -- the ideal ending would of course be a positive result (sale). I have found that intense preparation on knowing your own product or service and your competition (having the right support tools such as a professionally designed website with an integrated blog) plus an in depth understanding of the prospect's needs will also take you a long way.

Good luck!

Research the business and the individual before you call. Use a service like Gist.com to do it quickly, and be updated each time something new happens or gets published by them or on their behalf.

Call with a purpose, and script the first 8-10 seconds of the call so you immediately get their attention and earn the right to continue the conversation.