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Still Not Preparing for Sales Calls? You’re Not Just Wasting Time, You’re Wasting Opportunity.
Let’s be honest.
Despite all the research, resources, and reminders, salespeople still aren’t preparing properly for their sales calls. And the impact isn’t just felt in buyer frustration—it’s seen in longer sales cycles, lost deals, and missed value.
The latest Buyer Revolution data confirms it:
👉 82% of lubricant buyers believe the seller is not prepared for the meeting.
Let that sink in.
These are not cold calls. These are booked, confirmed conversations with buyers who expect something of value—and instead, often get generic chat and a rehashed pitch.
- They’re not being unreasonable.
- They’re prepared.
- They’ve done their homework.
- They expect you to do the same.
But what do sellers do?
- They rely on gut feel.
- On “winging it.”
- On habit and hindsight instead of preparation and purpose.
“I’ve Got This” - The Most Dangerous Phrase in Sales?
It’s not that sellers don’t know they should prepare.
They just don’t do it properly.
They tell themselves:
- “I’ve done this a hundred times before.”
- “I’ve got a good feel for how this will go.”
- “It’s better to stay flexible.”
All comforting lies.
Because when we sit down in workshops, in sales coaching, or review actual deals in CRM, we see the real story.
💡 Sales cycles are being dragged out.
💡 Follow-ups are unclear or inconsistent.
💡 Buyers lose confidence.
The most surprising part? Sellers admit they knew they could’ve done more.
They just didn’t.
Pre-Call Planning Isn’t Just a Form, It’s a Force Multiplier
When done right, pre-call planning:
- Clarifies the objective of the call (for both buyer and seller).
- Forces you to think through key questions and success criteria.
- Prepares you to handle objections, alternatives, and priorities.
- Keeps the sales process on track with a clear next step.
But here’s what’s often overlooked and what turns pre-call planning into a real competitive advantage:
Pre-call planning is even better when shared.
Discussing your call plan with a colleague, manager, or mentor creates space for:
- Fresh insights.
- Shared experience.
- Alternative angles.
- Reframing or sharpening questions.
- Spotting blind spots in your approach.
We hear it all the time from sales leaders who hire us:
“If we could just get the team to spend 10 minutes with each other ahead of big calls, we’d see a real uplift in performance.”
They’re not wrong.
Why Are We Still Afraid of Roleplay?
Here’s another missed opportunity that’s frankly baffling:
Practising the conversation.
Roleplay. Simulation. Scenario rehearsal.
Call it what you like, sellers avoid it like the plague.
Even in a safe, supportive environment, a trusted peer, a manager, or a training session most reps squirm at the idea of practising their pitch or testing their questioning techniques.
But why?
We don’t expect pilots to wing it.
We don’t expect athletes to skip training.
Yet we let salespeople go into live customer conversations without ever rehearsing.
It’s madness.
Roleplay doesn’t need to be a cringeworthy, artificial theatre performance.
It just needs to be a quick, focused run-through:
- How will you open the call?
- What’s your key insight?
- What’s your lead question?
- What’s your response if they say X?
- What happens next?
We ask buyers to invest time and money in us, but too many sellers won’t invest ten minutes to prepare properly.
The Data Backs It Up
✅ Gartner reported a 48% increase in sales cycle length between 2022 and 2024.
✅ According to Forrester, buyers now complete up to 70% of their journey before engaging with sales.
That means:
- Fewer live conversations.
- Higher expectations.
- Less room for error.
Buyers expect value. If you’re unprepared, they’ll move on, or worse, disengage entirely and ghost you.
The Fight Must End
If your team still resists pre-call planning or roleplay, ask them:
“What’s the cost of showing up unprepared?”
Because here’s what it costs:
- Credibility.
- Confidence.
- Conversion.
- Control of the sales process.
And here’s what great preparation unlocks:
- Stronger conversations.
- Better qualification.
- Shorter sales cycles.
- More predictable performance.
Let’s Bring It Home
We owe it to ourselves, and to our buyers, to take sales seriously.
That starts with turning pre-call planning into a real habit, not a reluctant task.
Not a tick-box. Not a CRM chore. Not a form for the boss.
It’s your guide.
It’s your edge.
It’s how you sell like a pro in a modern market.
Let’s stop selling how we like and start preparing the way buyers expect.
More Reading
You Don’t Need All the Answers, But You Should Have All the Questions
The Art and Science of Sales Follow-Up: Striking the Right Balance
https://orange-dunlin-317451.hostingersite.com/b2b-selling/the-art-and-science-of-sales-follow-up/
