Agriculture Finance Industry Sales Training: Sales Call Planning

AGRICULTURE FINANCE INDUSTRY IMPROVEMENT IN CRITICAL SALES SKILL #2: SALES CALL PLANNING SALES CALL PLANNING is primarily focused on the salesperson’s knowledge and ability to plan sales calls that include a Commitment Objective. A Commitment Objective is a goal that salespeople set for themselves to gain an agreement from the customer that moves the sales process forward. Failure to do this is the most frequent mistake made by the salesperson. REMARKABLE FINDINGS ABOUT SALES CALL PLANNING SKILLS IN THE AGRICULTURE FINANCE INDUSTRY

• Pre-training scores were higher and post-training results were on par with the Universe in Knowledge of Sales Call Planning.
• A dramatic lift in this skill (matching the Universe) occurred in the Application of Sales Call Planning.

The Ag Finance Industry started with selling skills that were generally higher than the Universe. It appeared that Ag Finance salespeople were receiving some level of sales skills training prior to this training initiative. Pre-sales training scores were higher in all skills with the exception of Gaining Commitment. Since the critical selling skills work together (each skill enhances the other), developing all of them simultaneously provides the salesperson with a systemic approach to solution selling. Continual sales performance improvement happens while long-term sales relationships are enhanced. The Agriculture Industry is a clear example of the need to develop ALL of the 5 Critical Selling skills.