{"id":2064,"date":"2005-03-18T14:40:00","date_gmt":"2005-03-18T14:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/2005\/03\/18\/sales-calls\/"},"modified":"2021-08-06T18:50:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T22:50:50","slug":"sales-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/sales-calls\/","title":{"rendered":"Sales Calls"},"content":{"rendered":"

A sales call or pre-arranged face-to-face meetings between a salesperson and prospect with the goal of making a sale.<\/p>\n

Like everyone else who has ever held a purchasing position, I experience varying degrees of annoyance at getting requests for meetings without a compelling reason.<\/p>\n

For most business people, sales calls are interruptive, annoying, and distracting.<\/p>\n

Here are a few things that could help open the gateway to the rest of the conversation.<\/p>\n

1. Pre-call research<\/strong>. If every salesperson followed this suggestion, this would force the salesperson to pre-qualify themselves, rather than you having that responsibility.<\/p>\n

2. Adopt a Criteria<\/strong> to accept or decline requests for appointments. If the salesperson doesn\u2019t specify how they will help you solve a problem or achieve an objective, they don\u2019t get the appointment. Period.<\/p>\n

3. Create Categories<\/strong>. If you do adopt some type of criteria for whether or not to grant an appointment, you also have to consider the category of products or services being presented. You have your goals and strategies for a given year. If sourcing for a certain category does not fit within your strategy, you have to decline the appointment, irrespective of how well the salesperson presents their value proposition. Maybe their solution is for next year\u2019s problem. Don\u2019t lose focus. You have limited resources, so don\u2019t scatter yourself.<\/p>\n

Become a member of one of the world\u2019s largest procurement associations today.<\/a><\/p>\n

Recommended Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n