Plan a joint sales call with each of your representatives. Ask each of them to prepare a pre-call plan for the meeting that includes:

1. The objectives for the sales call exactly as the rep would communicate them to the prospect or customer.
2. The way in which the rep plans to gain agreement or ask for input on the objectives for the call.
3. For internal/planning purposes – the rep’s ideal outcome from the call and minimum outcome.
4. Two or three questions for each of the steps in the customer needs analysis, ideally the thought provoking, strategic questions or provocative questions they plan to ask.
5. Two or three key areas of narrative the rep is ready to leverage, such as a specific customer story/example, analogies, metaphors or benefit statements.
6. How the rep plans to end the meeting and gain agreement for the next step.

Review the pre-call plan with your rep. Work through who is leading each step of the call and how each of you intend to pass the baton back and forth.

Most importantly, consider curiosity. Prepare together by considering;

1. What might you learn by asking the questions the rep identified?
2. In what ways do the questions help your customer to envision a preferred future or something they wish to avoid? In what ways do the questions address the unique differentiators that you as a company have? How do they create contrast for the prospect?
3. Consider questions that you may not normally explore and ask yourselves: What if we were to ask … ?
4. Reflect on:
   1. In what ways you are ready to address their unique communication style?
   2. In what ways you are prepared to stay in the sorting business?
   3. Which questions uncover the prospect’s underlying motivation?
   4. How might curiosity play a critical role here?
5. Debrief together after the call and consider:
   1. Which questions worked?
   2. Why did they work?
   3. Which questions didn’t work?
   4. Why didn’t they work?