After a great deal of preparation, it is time to communicate with the prospect, either by face-to-face contact, by telephone, or some other appropriate method of communication. We refer to the initial contact with the customer as the “approach.” A high-quality and professional approach is a powerful way to add value and differentiate yourself from your competitors.15 All the effort you have put into developing relationship, product, and customer strategies can now be applied to the presentation strategy. If the approach is effective, you may be given the opportunity to make the sales presentation. If, however, the approach is not effective, the chance to present your sales story may be lost. You can be the best-prepared salesperson in the business, but, without a good approach, there may be little chance for a sale.

The approach has three important objectives. First, you want to build rapport with the prospect. This will be accomplished with your telephone and/or social contact. Second, you want to capture the person’s full attention with your business contact. These first two steps are extremely important in establishing how much influence you will have throughout the rest of the sales process. Never begin your sales story if the prospect seems preoccupied and is not paying attention. Third, you want to transition to the next stage of the sales process. In the early part of the sales process, this will likely be the need discovery; in multi-call presentations, it may be one of the other stages in the sales process such as the presentation, negotiations, or closing the sale. In some selling situations, the first contact with the customer is a telephone call. The call is made to schedule a meeting or, in some cases, conduct the sales presentation. The face-to-face sales call starts with the social contact and is followed by the business contact. The telephone contact, social contact, and business contact are discussed in this section.