Maximizing Call Power

Business Issue - Increased competition and customer expectations require relationship managers to differentiate themselves and their organizations more skillfully to grow market share or build share of wallet. Successful financial institutions will establish and maintain competitive advantage by equipping their commercial salespeople to:

Maximize the effectiveness of commercial sales calls by using high-impact planning skills
Improve sales results by positioning themselves and the institution as financial partners to their most important customers by focusing on customer needs
Save time in the sales process by assuring that every sales minute is leveraged to its fullest potential
Enhance relationship opportunities by capturing the results of sales calls and coordinating deliberate action steps to close business

Omega Performance’s Solution - Maximizing Call Power teaches experienced commercial relationship managers, commercial product specialists, and other members of commercial sales teams the skills and best practices necessary to develop and cross-sell profitable community, middle-market, and large corporate business. The focus is on building proficiency in three areas: planning for call power (relationship and call planning), performing call power (a five-phase call process), and enhancing relationships.

What Is Included

Maximizing Call Power is a highly participative, interactive workshop that spotlights the best sales practices of high-performing relationship managers and sales professionals outside the financial services industry. The program focuses on three main areas:

Planning for Call Power demonstrates the value of relationship planning and teaches participants to establish call objectives that will prepare them to advance the relationship as well as the organization's unit goals. Participants learn the three high-impact calling skills: decision center mapping, needs-oriented questioning and resolving objections. Skills are applied to actual customers and prospects.
Performing Call Power teaches a five-phase call process and the high-impact skills necessary to execute the process successfully. It provides for practice and feedback on each high-impact skill: needs-oriented questioning, communicating benefits (for moving the call along at key transition points and for presenting solutions), and resolving objections (especially by converting objections to needs the organization can meet). In addition, the workshop includes two videotaped skill practices in which participants apply these high-impact skills to conducting a complete sales call. Video skill practice and feedback — learning methodologies unparalleled in changing participants' behavior in the shortest possible time — is always accompanied by balanced feedback from the instructor and from peers.
Expanding Relationships emphasizes the benefits of documenting call results, especially needs identified, objections uncovered and how they were or might in the future be resolved, and next steps established. Also covered are techniques are covered for communicating and coordinating with resources in the organization to fulfill customer commitments and advance the sale.

The key themes of the course are visualized in models that help participants remember and use them: Aiming for Financial Partnership, Maximizing Call Power, and Performing Call Power. Supporting the course content and transfer of the skills and processes to the job are practical job aids and worksheets, provided in soft copy as electronic documents:

Relationship Planning
Call Plan
Decision Center Map
Resolving Objections
Call Report
Needs-Oriented Questioning Guide
Needs-Oriented Questioning Worksheet
Skill Development Action Plan

Results You Can Expect

Maximizing Call Power helps your relationship managers and other sales team members:

Use calling time to effectively accomplish relationship objectives and line-of-business priorities
Increase success ratios by identifying the customer's decision making process and using appropriate strategies
Examine customers' business strategies to uncover unmet needs for financial services
Prioritize multiple needs and address these needs more effectively
Resolve objections smoothly and, when possible, convert them to needs the organization can meet
Propose targeted solutions to meet customers' high priority needs and close sales more successfully
Optimize the use of the organization's resources to search out and capture profitable business

Who Should Be Trained

Maximizing Call Power is designed for experienced commercial relationship managers, commercial product specialists, sales team members, team leaders, and senior commercial bankers who manage commercial relationships or need to demonstrate and coach strong business development and cross-selling skills.

Prerequisites

The recommended prerequisite for Maximizing Call Power is Omega Performance's Selling to Achieve Results or an equivalent basic selling skills program. Participants should have a solid knowledge of the organization’s fee-based products, which can be provided by Building Fee Income or equivalent training.

Delivery Options

Maximizing Call Power is a two-day workshop for which there is a small amount (one to two hours) of participant prework. There is also prescribed postwork consisting of applying the skills and process to actual customers or prospects and discussing the activities with one's manager.