Adding value to sales calls

Sales trainer/consultant Dave Kahle Try to bring something to every sales call that your customer would think is valuable. This can, of course, be your latest and greatest product or service, providing that it really would help them. Or, it may be a new way to implement something they have purchased from you in the past. Maybe it's a copy of an article that you thought might help them. It can even be a good question you share with them that gets them thinking about their business in a different way.

After a few such calls, your customer will come to respect you and look forward to your calls, knowing that you're not there just to work some agenda of yours, but rather he or she will come to expect to gain something from your sales calls.

You'll find it easier to make appointments and get time with your customers when you've built in them the expectation that the time spent with you will be well worth the cost of it.

This is a long-range strategy. As you consistently hold to this strategy, over time you'll build up a certain expectation in the customer's mind. Don't expect an immediate payback from this strategy, but, nonetheless, stick to it for the long haul.

If you are guided by this principle of always bringing something of value, you'll recognize that there is another side to this coin. If you have nothing to leave the customer that will be of value to that customer, you probably shouldn't make the sales call. Don't take his or her time.