Quantum Tools

Pre-Call Plan 

“Planning is an unnatural process; it is much more fun to do something. The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression.”

--Sir John Harvey-Jones

Quantum’s Pre-Call Planning Framework makes it possible for sales people and their managers to prepare themselves more objectively and thoroughly for impending face-to-face sales meetings and thus optimise the likelihood of achieving their aims for the meeting.

In much the same way as we wouldn't be comfortable with the pilot of our transatlantic flight boarding the plane thinking "I've flown this same aircraft on this route so many times that I no longer need to complete the pre-flight checklist." - so too should sales people adhere to the pre-call planning process to ensure that best practise is consistently applied.

The pre-call plan prompts consideration of: 

  • Main and 'fall back' objectives of the call
  • Tactical considerations for the meeting
  • Relevant prospect company information
  • Our current understanding of the decision-making process
  • Our likely strengths versus the competition
  • How we will motivate the prospect to be open about his / her position
  • The sales propositions which are likely to engage interest - from the relevant feature of the product or service to their advantages t/w the ‘proofs’ we have to substantiate them. The anticipated benefits of these is also captured as well as the questions we need to ask of the prospect to find and quantify needs and wants for our propositions.
  • The best responses to anticipated objections


In existing customer situations, the relevant detail often stems from the gathering of wider account plan information (outputs of the meeting are captured within the account plan).  With new prospects this level of planning is essential if sales people are to engage early interest and identify the needs and wants which in turn generate sufficient customer interest to move to the next stage of the sales process.