A very basic element of certainty is preparation, and preparation is what creates certainty in the first place.
Think of certainty like a spotlight. When you prepare, it’s bright and steady. When you don’t… well, you’re stumbling around in the dark hoping you don’t bump into the furniture.
Before Anything
Before you ever make the first contact in a sale, you must prepare. This means researching your prospect and finding out everything you can about them, and then drilling your approach until it becomes second nature.
These are not “extra things.” These are the actions of every true sales professional.
The Wake-Up Call Story
Years ago during a consulting session, I asked a struggling rep, “Tell me about the prospect you’re calling.”
He proudly opened his laptop… and had nothing. No notes. No research. Not even the correct pronunciation of the prospect’s last name.
He was shocked when the call went sideways. I wasn't. He wasn’t uncertain because he was bad—he was uncertain because he wasn’t prepared.
Another part of preparing for initial contact is stepping back and examining the general industry.
- What trends do you see?
- What’s currently happening?
- What are people in that space feeling, hoping for, frustrated by?
- What are they saying?
You are not selling into a vacuum. You are selling into a landscape, and the more you observe the terrain, the better you can navigate it.
Most salespeople pick up the phone or walk into a meeting still unsure what they’re going to do. And the reason is simple:
They didn’t prepare.
It’s also true that about 90% of the time a salesperson doesn’t reach a prospect, the real reason isn’t voicemail… or gatekeepers…
It’s uncertainty, uncertainty about what they’re going to say or how they’re going to say it.
And again: That uncertainty exists because they didn’t prepare.
The Missing Intel Problem
One of the biggest mistakes in early prospect research is failing to ask the referring person key questions. Someone who referred you knows things you cannot find on a website:
- What does the prospect like?
- What do they hate?
- What motivates them?
- What irritates them?
- What’s their communication style?
The Referral Oops Story
I once coached a rep who was referred to a F500 CEO.
He researched the company inside-out… but forgot to ask the person who made the referral one simple question:
“Is there anything I should know before I call?”
Turns out the CEO loved when people got straight to the point and despised long intros. Guess what the rep did? A five-minute monologue. The call died instantly, not because the rep was bad, but because he missed information the referrer could have handed him on a silver platter. Preparation would have prevented it.
Any Stage
Preparation isn’t just for the beginning. It’s part of every stage of the sales process. Before moving to the next step, review the steps behind you. Know exactly where you are. Know exactly what comes next.
Preparation is designed so that whatever step you’re doing, you’re successful because you’re totally certain of how to execute it.
Using the Interview to Prepare
The first step of direct contact in the sales process is the Contact and Interview stage.
Here’s the secret: You should be using the interview to prepare for the rest of the sale.
Ask yourself:
- What is my prospect thinking?
- What’s their opinion on the industry?
- What’s causing their interest, or causing them to abandon a competitor?
- What changes do they expect? Fear? Want?
These aren’t small talk questions. These are intel-gathering questions.
The Intel Snowball Effect
A top rep once told me that after 50–60 interviews in the same industry, he could predict objections before they were spoken. Why? Because he noticed trends, patterns in what prospects complained about, celebrated, and wished for.
He wasn’t psychic.
He was prepared.
If you track the intel from interviews consistently, you’ll start seeing the same patterns, and those patterns become pure gold.
Final Lesson
It’s not just the Boy Scouts who should “Be Prepared.” It’s salespeople, too.
Preparation is the source of certainty, and certainty is the source of confidence.
And confidence, real confidence, is what gets you through the door, through the conversation, and ultimately… to the close.
