Every Sales Call Should Tell a Story

An incredible number of sales people will call on their customers and just wing it. Not are they ineffective, but they are also wasting their customers premium time. One way to increase a call’s effectiveness is to create a story plan.

by Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.

A story plan is a simple and incredibly effective tool for creating very focused sales presentations. It is a precise outline of the objectives of a sales presentation including how the salesperson plans to attain these objectives. A story plan should be general in scope and allow enough flexibility to develop the presentation according to the situation. It may consist of notes jotted on a scrap of paper or a more formal document. The objective is to create the framework for a successful sales call.

Implications to the Sales Person

A story plan may be designed to assist the sales person to achieve several objectives, but more commonly, it is used only to attain one or two. These call objectives may include persuading a prospect to change an existing attitude, providing more service to an existing customer or acquiring information about a prospect for future use.

Few sales people use story plans properly, if it all. Properly utilized, a story plan provides a structured yet flexible approach to the presentation and a solid framework for achieving objectives.

The Application

The design of your story plan should be straight forward. It should be simple to use while in front of the prospect and readily adaptable to change as needed.

There are three sections to a story plan.

The first identifies the objectives of the sales call.

The second details how you plan to achieve your objectives. This is done by demonstrating the benefits your are offering to the prospect.

The final portion of the story plan indicates how the benefits are to be communicated to the prospect. These can include profit margins, cost savings or other tangible benefits.

As you structure your plan, there are three steps you need to take:

· Make a List of Benefits

· Back Up Your Promises

· Create A Solid Framework for Your Objectives

Once this information is developed, it is relatively easy to structure your story plan. It should provide the sales person with the structure for a well organized and persuasive presentation that is based upon the problems and needs of the particular prospect.

Sales people should be advised that a story plan is only a basic road map for a call. During the actual sales call, notes can be referred to, but where possible it should be committed to memory. The plan doesn’t have to be followed to the letter and departures from the script will sometimes be necessary. Different benefits maybe need to be stressed and different means of communicating these benefits may be need to be used as the call unfolds.

Something to Think About

Effective sales calls have a singular purpose. Every call should accomplish something that brings the sale one step further. With this in mind, consider the following points:

1. How you approach a sales call? Do you have a structured approach or do you tend to wing it as you walk through the prospect’s door? Explain.

2. What results do you achieve with your approach? Do you see room for improvement? Explain.

Copyright ©2001 by Timothy F. Bednarz,Ph.D. All Rights Reserved
Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D. is the Principal Partner of the American Management Development Group. He can be reached at 800.654-4935 or [email protected]. Find out more at http://www.LetsTalkSelling.com.

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