Most salespeople we meet lose control of the sales process on a regular basis because they forget to, or don't know how to, find the answer to the following simple question: What happens now?

Imagine yourself in the following scenario:

Your firm gives tours of your facilities to prospective clients. Afterward, they usually thank you and leave. And then the chase begins. What did they think? Were they impressed? When will they make their decision? You call to follow up and find it difficult to get though to them. Are they avoiding you, or just really busy? Are you becoming a pest with your persistent calls?

Unfortunately, the solution is not as easy as simply asking, "What happens now?" All too often, you'll hear wishy-washy, noncommittal statements like, "It looks real good ... we'll get back to you", or "You can call us next week", or "Our committee will be meeting on this over the next few weeks".

You need a formal "what happens now?" step in your sales process, which we call an "up-front contract". Not a written legal document, but a verbal agreement. To be effective, the up-front contract must be based on:

• Mutual Consent - There is a clear agreement on the next step or steps to be taken.

• Mutual Comfort - You are both completely comfortable with those steps.

• Mutual Commitment - You are both serious and committed to taking those next steps because they are in your mutual best interest.

Here's the challenge. A prospect asks you do something (like sending a brochure), and you are really not comfortable doing it (because you know that there is an 80% chance of it ending up in the "round file"). What do you do? Can you actually tell a prospect that you are not willing to send literature? Won't that end the sale before it's begun?

It takes GUTS to set strong up-front contracts with your prospects. You have to be willing to walk away from certain "opportunities" if the prospect is expecting you to behave in ways that you are not completely comfortable with and completely committed to.

Back to our earlier example:

You can prevent the "tour" dilemma from occurring by setting the following up-front contract prior to the tour:

"Do you mind if I share with you my suggestions for our next step? We have found from our experience that the process that works best for us and our potential clients is to follow every tour with a 45-minute face-to-face meeting, which we schedule before we part company today, so that we can talk further about your needs, see what you thought of the tour, and give you the opportunity to have all your questions answered. Are you comfortable with that?"

Most prospects are glad when you provide suggestions about the next steps. It makes them more comfortable knowing exactly where they are going, knowing they always maintain the power to move forward or end the process.

Here's an action step for you to take right away: take a look at five or ten prospects you are working on right now. Do you know exactly what happens next and why? Are you truly comfortable with those steps?

Start setting "up-front contracts" now. When you always know "what happens now", you'll have better control over your own destiny.

Good Selling!

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