“By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.”

Benjamin Franklin

Call Planning – The Key to Winning the Business

By: Margi Miller, Senior Vice President

Author and statesman Benjamin Franklin may have uttered it first, but military heroes such as Dwight D. Eisenhower and Norman Schwarzkopf also understood the significance and vital nature of planning. D-day and Operation Desert Storm are examples of outthinking, outflanking, and out winning the enemy.

We can all agree that filing a flight plan, preparing a solid game plan and rehearsing tirelessly for the new Broadway show are invaluable. For bankers, however, sales call planning conjures up numerous emotions, most of them negative. Why is that? Is it the paperwork, is it time related or is it that planning does not create the immediate thrill that being with a customer or prospect does? There are many reasons but data speaks volumes as to why bankers should invest more of their time planning. Studies by the Business Banking Board indicate that Relationship Managers that are in the 90th percentile of production outsell the 50th percentile producer by 179%. Even more interesting is that the high performer is actually in front of the customer less (about 43.7% of their sales time versus 55.5% for the 50th percentile associate) and invests more time planning and creating strategies to win the business. The top performer plans 37.5% of his or her time more than double what the 50th percentile banker does.

Further, at the recent “American Banker” Small Business Conference, all three small business owners on the customer panel pointed to knowledge of their industry as a key to getting in their doors and winning their business. This understanding does not occur only through experience. It’s planning that makes the difference.

Sales Cycle Specific Planning

Too often sales associates see planning as a generic term. The fact is that as we progress through the sales cycle our approach to preparation has to change. If it takes an average of six calls to make a sale on a business prospect then calls one, two and perhaps even three are what St. Meyer & Hubbard terms Discovery Calls. As we gain the trust of the buyer and when we know their needs well enough to offer solutions we make Presentation Calls.

When you are still uncovering needs and building curiosity – whether with a prospect or a client – a Discovery Call Plan is most appropriate. Clearly the first thing to think about is the maximum and minimum goal for that call. Unless those goals can be put on paper or at least put in the sales person’s mind, the call should not be made at all. How can someone hit a target they do not have? Other issues around planning a Discovery Call include; researching any relevant data about the customer, their industry, their current relationship, and then calling people in the branches or in other areas that the customer might touch to determine how the customer experience has been. Being blindsided by service-related issues early in the call is never a “feel good.” Finally, the sales associate should go through their sales model and determine how they will build rapport, what questions they will ask, what they will say about the bank when it’s their turn to talk, and how they will close given their maximum and minimum goals.

The Presentation Call Plan still requires that the all important minimum and maximum goals be stated, that the key selection criteria of the prospect or client be identified, that the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors be indicated, that the banker has knowledge of the biases of each of the audience members they will present to and what key questions and comments the banker will make to help optimize the opportunity to close the sale.

In both the Discovery Phase and the Presentation Phase, planning involves gathering data to allow the banker to be as up to speed as possible on the industry they are calling on. For example in researching this article, I went to both google.com and teoma.com to learn about call planning. At teoma.com more than 1.6million hits occurred when I typed in sales planning. Yahoo will forward automatic e-mail alerts about businesses and business issues in your local area.

It’s of course, unacceptable for a sales professional to enter a meeting with a prospective client without ever bothering to visit the web site of the business. There is a treasure trove of information on every company’s web site. This ranges from the way in which the company describes itself and its products and services, to press releases and financial information. Imagine integrating into your conversation with Mr. or Ms. Executive your congratulations on yesterday’s announcement that they received the Silver Award from the Annual Gold Ink Awards competition sponsored by Print Media. And don’t forget to check out the language used to describe the work environment within the employment section of the web site.

Other sources of information about the company include on-line services such as Hoovers, local chamber of commerce to which a company may belong, and internal sources. Top sales professionals will often tap their COI network as well as friends and family to see if anybody can provide the name of someone that works at a target prospect organization. This method can garner really valuable “grass roots” information about obstacles facing a company as well as plans for growth and expansion. Be prepared to always protect the identity of your source unless you have their permission to give out the name. You never want to put him or her in a compromising position.

For our money, however, the best resource by far to help the banker prepare for their calls is a company called First Research.

First Research – Saving Time, Creating Differentiation

Founded by a former banker in 1998, First Research (www.firstresearch.com) delivers critical knowledge about more than 150 industries. First Research industry profiles are the right blend of industry jargon and plain English to help the sales professional gain confidence in knowing the current state of an industry, business issues that are keeping executives up at night, and important occurrences in the industry during the past quarter.

Profiles are updated quarterly by staff economists who look at trends, issues, legislation that might affect the industry and other specific data that helps the banker craft questions that are relevant and timely versus simply asking “how much do you want to borrow.” First Research subscribers can also create a personal profile that allows them to receive regular updates about industries they are most involved with through e-mail alerts.

Speaking of e-mail, the SM&H clients that employ First Research have become quite adept at copying and pasting portions of industry updates into e-mails that they can use as value-added touch points to clients and prospects throughout the year. These are the types of things business owners appreciate from their banker. When the bank uses First Research that value is just a click away.

For our money, First Research is banking’s best planning tool.

A final thought about call preparation. In world class organizations, executive management makes call preparation non negotiable. If you are a veteran or someone that is exceeding plan, perhaps the call preparation is done in the head versus on paper. For rookies and lower performers call plans might be written out. This senior management commitment to call planning is demonstrated in many ways. Supporting technology and automation are made available to reduce paperwork. Tools such as First Research are brought to the table to help the banker shorten their preparation timeline. Reinforcement of planning efforts are provided by sales managers who give feedback and who review selected call plans on a weekly basis.

There are many things about selling that are fun. Call planning is not one of them. However, next time you fly on American Airlines stop by the cockpit and ask the pilot if they have filed a flight plan. If the answer is “no”, exit the plane immediately.

November Book Review

“Now, Discover Your Strengths”

Another fine offering from The Gallup Press, “Now, Discover Your Strengths,” offers a unique perspective on the high performing individual and the high performing organization. Authors Marcus Buckingham (co-author of First, Break All the Rules) and Donald O. Clifton wrote this book in order to start what they refer to as the “strengths revolution”. Their core premise is that high performing organizations must not only acknowledge the fact that each employee is different, they must maximize those differences.

Among the volumes of research conducted by the authors was this riveting piece of data. 198,000 employees representing 7,939 business units across 36 companies were asked; “At work do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?” When employees responded “strongly agree” to this question, they were 50% more likely to work in business units with lower employee turnover, 38% more likely to work in more productive business units, and 44% more likely to work in business units with higher customer satisfaction scores.

This correlated to ongoing research indicating that as the number of employees in a business unit who “strongly agree” increased, there were comparable increases in the business unit employee retention, productivity, and customer loyalty ratings.

How does an organization go about becoming a “strengths-based” organization, a manager learn to capitalize on the strengths of each direct report, and each individual find, name, and develop their strengths?“Now, Discover Your Strengths” is a resource worth exploring. Buckingham and Clifton draw upon Gallup’s thirty years and more than two million interviews comprising a systematic study of excellence. From within this wealth of data, they detected patterns leading them to identify thirty-four themes of human talent – strengths.

The authors are careful to point out, and repeat, that there is no magic combination of strengths that is “the best” for any given role. In fact, we learn that people with the same top 5 strength combinations excel equally well in very different roles, while people with diverse top 5 strength combinations are just as proficient in the same role. It really comes down to the individual and the manager understanding the strengths of the individual, and capitalizing on them to their fullest.

Buckingham and Clifton surround the introduction of the thirty-four themes, with thorough context for understanding how to apply what you will learn from two perspectives: 1. How can I realize the greatest potential of my strengths; and 2. How can I most effectively manage each individual direct report now that I understand their unique strengths.

By the way, a very “millennium” feature of this book is that each dust cover contains a unique code that the owner-reader of the book can use to take the Internet-based StrengthsFinder® Profile. You are immediately presented with your personal top 5 strengths. As the reader, you are directed to this process at the appropriate point in the book in order to take advantage of the information provided.

We offer a final statistic for your consideration. In Gallup’s total database they asked the question “At work do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?” of 1.7 million employees in 101 companies across 63 countries. The astounding response? Only twenty percent (20%) of employees surveyed feel that their strengths are in play every day. Imagine the opportunity this presents to most organizations.

“Now, Discover Your Strengths” is published by The Free Press.

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