“No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.” ~ Helmuth Carl Bernard Graf von Moltke
I don’t see sales as war myself, but it is certainly true that no call plan ever survives contact with the prospect. Nor does any scheduled meeting survive the first conversation sally.
Plus typically I don’t think of the EXACT issue a prospect has and have to be able to pivot during my calls.
Unfortunately in sales BECAUSE of those things I just mentioned, most people believe that means planning doesn’t matter.
Yet nothing could be further from the truth; there is a difference between planning and having a plan you set in stone and will not deviate from regardless of the reality you step into.
PLUS if you truly want to make your annual objectives AND are focusing high value targets you want to meet with and close before YOUR fiscal year ends! The activity of planning is an important one.
It allows you to look from where you are forward to where you want to be.
Think like Stephen Covey and begin with the end in mind:
- Objectives – the long term outcome
- Mile Markers – the shorter term ways you’ll measure progress
- Obstacles – determine what will stop you from reaching your objectives & mile markers
- Resources – understand what you already know, have, can get to help you overcome the obstacles
- Tasks – list what needs to be done to get where you’re going
Which is probably why a colleague of mine always quotes Dwight D. Eisenhower “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”