Pre-Sales Activities [Sales Process Part 2 of 9]

You have prospects, but it would be foolish to dive in and try to sell to them immediately. You need to prepare, and this is where the three pre-sales activities come in.
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Sales Skills: A Management Courses Introduction
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Sales and Selling Skills
This video is part of course module 8.4.1
Program 8: Managing Customers and Clients
Course 4: Sales / Selling Skills
Section 1: The Sales Process
Other videos that describe the Sales Process:
The Sales Process https://youtu.be/iPZNem-Xguw
Sales Prospecting https://youtu.be/m7bQ4wNeZmo
Rapport Building https://youtu.be/aJqduxW2MA4
Opening the Sales Meeting https://youtu.be/gjI7e-DBPH4
Diagnosing the Need https://youtu.be/pAsYVf4E3to
Presenting Solutions https://youtu.be/xf-mhhbL2tk
Handling Objections https://youtu.be/S6JFm46Gfso
Seeking Commitment https://youtu.be/1D1-VC9Ccjk
After Sales Activities https://youtu.be/3qrrlXwDjJI
LESSON NOTES
The three pre-sales activities are:
1. Qualification – qualifying which prospects to focus on – and which not
2. Preparation – so you are ready for the next steps
3. Approaching the prospect
Qualification
Identifying which prospects are most likely to spend. A prospect musthave the MINT:
• Money
• Influence
• Need
• Time Pressure

It’s also important to disqualify prospects that are not really prospects - to avoid wasting time and effort that is extremely unlikely to be repaid.
Preparation
The key here is to be ready for when you meet the prospect. You need to research as much as you can about:
• The organization
• The individuals and their style
• Their needs and preferences
• Rules and constraints
• Logistics: contact details, locations, parking
From this, you need to determine what realistic objectives to set yourself, and start to gather the resources that will help you make this sale:
• Samples
• Case studies
• Specifications
• Data
• Brochures
• Testimonials
• Diagrams
• Statistics
Approaching
Now it is time to approach your prospect to set up the call or meeting that will take the sales process one step further.
RECOMMENDED EXERCISE
1. The MINT framework offers four necessary conditions for a suspect to be a prospect. Are there other conditions relevant to your business? (2 MC CPD Points)
2. Make your own pre-sales preparation checklist (2 MC CPD Points)
DOWNLOADS
Free Resources
CPD Tools - https://gum.co/MC-CPD
Paid resources
Management Courses Onboarding Kit - https://gum.co/MC-ObK ($3)
RECOMMENDED READING
There are many books that introduce sales and selling. These are the ones I have, and can recommend:
To Sell Is Human https://geni.us/L2EQmt
The Only Sales Guide You'll Ever Need https://geni.us/AEAVD5
The New Strategic Selling https://geni.us/Zt2Z9n3
SPIN Selling https://geni.us/Ir5xu
The Psychology of Selling https://geni.us/AjR8AA
Links to our book recommendations are affiliated through Amazon and help support our free videos
Managers Need a Basic set of kit to do your job well. Here are my top recommendations: https://kit.co/MikeClayton/manager-s-work-kit (the links are affiliated)
MANAGEMENT COURSES CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD) POINTS
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- If you also carried out all of the recommended exercises, score a total of 6 MC CPD points
CHAPTER MARKERS
00:00 - Step 2 of the Sales Process: Pre-Sales Activities
00:21 - The 3 Pre-Sales Activities
00:41 - Qualification
01:23 - Qualify your prospects with the MINT framework
03:25 - Disqualifying prospects
04:05 - Preparation
05:43 - Approaching the Prospect
06:26 - Concluding remarks
#Pre-sales #Sales #SalesProcess