major components (lawful object, competency, consid- eration, and mutual consent) and several minor com- ponents (understanding, a proposal – either verbal or written, and acceptance). First, you can’t have an up-front contract if you don’t have a lawful object – that is, a product or service to sell. And it’s got to be legal. Second, an up-front contract requires competency between the salesperson and the prospect. You must have the authority to make an offer, as well as close the sale, and the prospect must have the authority to accept it. You can give the greatest presentation in the world, but, if you can’t deliver – or, if the prospect can’t accept your offer – what’s the use? No contract can follow. Third, an up-front contract requires some form of consid- eration. For all practical purposes, let’s assume it’s money. Finally, a valid up-front contract includes mutual consent, which means you offer to do something – such as make a presentation, come back for a follow-up visit, or solve a problem – and the prospect accepts your offer. Notice that I did not say you offered to sell your product or service and the prospect agreed to buy it. That could be the offer, but it’s not likely to be this early in the game. However, if you master up-front contracting, you’ll seldom have to offer your product or service for the sale. After fulfilling a series of up-front contracts, prospects close themselves! By always arriving at an agreement up front, you and
the prospect can avoid misunderstandings – as well as the rhetoric and posturing that often occur during the selling dance. An up-front contract improves communications and greatly enhances the profession of selling.
VIDEO: START SELLING WITH THE UP-FRONT CONTRACT
An up-front contract with a prospect must contain the following five elements:
1. Objective. This is our starting goal – a goal the prospect shares with us.
2. Time allotted. If the meeting will take an hour, the prospect should agree with us that an hour will be set aside.
3. Our role to get us there. This is what we’ll be do- ing before, during, and after the discussion.
4. Prospect’s role to get us there. This is what the prospect will be doing before, during, and after the discussion.
5. Conclusion. This is a preview of the forthcoming discussion’s possible end position; there may well be more than one possible conclusion, but the prospect must agree with us on what they all are.
We train salespeople to use the Microsoft® Outlook®
“meeting invite” function to restate and so-
lidify the five elements of the up-front contract that the salesperson and the prospect have agreed to verbally.
– DAVID H. MATTSON
From the book Sandler Success Principles, by Dave Mattson and Bruce Seidman. To learn more about Sandler Training, visit
www.sandler.com.
SELLING TIP Developing Great Questions
Focusing on these three concepts will help you develop and craft great questions: 1. Intent: Why are you asking these questions? If the answer isn’t to learn or uncover something, then don’t ask them. The goal in asking these questions is to deepen the understanding on both sides.
2. Content: What exactly do you need to know? 3. Condition: The ultimate goal in a sales conversa- tion is an exchange of the truth. The best way to have customers be truthful with us is to be truth- ful with them and create a low-pressure situation where they feel safe telling us what we need to know. The easiest way to do this is to ask ques- tions in a nonthreatening way.
– RENEE HOUSTON ZEMANSKI SELLING POWER OCTOBER 2015 | 21 © 2015 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.
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