Call Preparation Vital to a Banker’s Small Business Prospecting Efforts

June 20, 2011 - PRLog -- Preparation is the key to a successful sales call, especially the first call on a small business banking prospect, yet bankers often focus on the wrong types of prep work or they don’t prepare at all.

Nick Miller, president of Clarity Advantage, a consulting and bank sales training firm, says: “Proper preparation gives branch managers, small business bankers, and others responsible for selling bank products and services the perspective needed to establish credibility and earn the opportunity for additional conversation.”  According to Miller, a critical part of the prep work is to conduct online research to learn how the business the sales person is calling on works.  He offers this advice to bankers:

Spend 30 to 60 minutes online finding out about:

The business concept – What’s the basic idea of the business?  What products or services are offered?  What value do they create for customers?  What types of customers are attracted to the business?

The business drivers – How does the business make money?

Current trends – What’s changing in the industry that’s causing money-making challenges or offering better opportunities?

Miller will explore these and other prospecting strategies on June 28, 2011 in a live webinar entitled First Calls on Prospects.  The one-hour, complimentary webinar will begin at 12:00 PM EDT and is intended for bank sales people who are meeting with owner-managed, owner-led companies with annual sales ranging from $500,000 to $20 million.

First Calls on Prospects is part of Clarity Advantage’s Deep Diving into Sales Techniques summer webinar series.  The webinar series, which also includes sessions on Selling the Value of Bank Solutions and Negotiating the Fees You Deserve, will provide coaching material for sales managers and actionable tips and strategies for sales people.  To learn more about the series and register for the webinars, please visit http://www.clarityadvantage.com/wst/2011/05/news/summer-2....

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About Clarity Advantage: Consulting and bank sales training firm Clarity Advantage helps banks generate more profitable relationships faster with small and medium-sized companies, their owners, and employees. Clarity consulting, communications, sales tools and training help banks recruit and deploy sales team members, choose their best business and consumer prospects and clients, then approach, engage, sell, expand, and retain relationships. Clarity also assists banks with consumer sales and cash management sales. Clarity clients have posted increases in household penetration, cross-sells, deposit volume, and loan volume. Visitors to Clarity’s website, http://www.clarityadvantage.com, can subscribe to “The Weekly Sales Thought,” a free eNewsletter and podcast focused on business-to-business selling and sales management.