Planning for Effective Selling
I
plan my sales operation along three main lines: prospecting, presentation, and
the regular call-back.
PROSPECTING
My main preoccupation of course is prospecting for this
is the wellspring of my future clients. I cannot think of any of my planholders
who was not once a prospect or name in my list book. My most fruitful
methods of prospecting is the referral and center-of-influence. Initially the
captive market can yield the bulk of a counselor’s production, but that will
eventually be exhausted. That is why you just have to professionalize your
style and not just rely on your “comadre” or “compadre” who signs the papers
after some pleasantries here and there, or some arm-twisting now and then.
I
have set aside a small box with index cards in it. The cards contain the names,
addresses, ages and occupations of my prospects. Once a person has become a
planholder, his card is transferred to another box that is meant only for my
clients. Every weekend I make a general review of the names in both boxes for
possible action during the week. I always make it a point to discard “China eggs,” or
the hopeless prospects, and replace them with new ones.
PRESENTATION
My
second main line of planning is my presentation. The cardinal rule here for me
is an absolute minimum of three presentations a day. Nothing and no one is to
detract me from the rule: see three prospects a day; tell the pre-need story at
least three times a day. In a month, I would have seen 90 people. Then, I just
leave the results to the law of averages.
Let
me stress that my attitude towards a prospect is on even terms. I see him as a
fellow being with the same basic needs, and I come to him with a plan for his
family’s security and peace of mind. This gives me a lot of confidence.
REGULAR CALL-BACK
A
prospect even after he has signed and has become my planholder does not cease
to be my prospect. For me, he is still the best source of other prospects. So I
make it a point to see my planholders regularly outside of my collection
routine. I believe the best advertisement of a pre-need company are its
own counselors and planholders. They are the living proof of our continuing
concern, trustworthiness and stability.
- Carmencita Atayde