I received this question from someone regarding yesterday’s blog and thought it important enough to share as it may be on your mind as well.
The question was, “How much time do I put aside for pre call planning?” Here is my response:

Since pre-call planning occurs before you begin to prospect, this is the time you put aside to recondition and realign your thinking to achieve a healthier outlook regarding this activity.

The amount of time you should spend on new business development is more of a function of how long it would take you to get into the proper mindset. While some salespeople may need fifteen or twenty minutes, others may need only a few minutes to get focused enough to begin prospecting or cold calling on the phone.

I’d suggest timing each degree of pre-call planning so that you will know exactly how much time you need to put aside before you actually prospect. As mentioned earlier, pre-call planning requires a distinct amount of time that you are carving into your schedule, which is separate from the actual time you are putting aside for cold calling or other prospecting activities.