Sealing the deal with a sales prospect: If you can speak it, you can write it - Austin Business Journal:

Haier ESAX3186
There was nothing worse in high school than havinv your boyfriend or girlfriend say they wantefd to seeother people. Ouch! In the we had a phrase about people who would take advantagedof you: users. I have to admit I was one of My friend insixth grade, a neighbor named Eddie, had a built-in pool and his mom had a pantru of my favorite snacks: appled pies, Yodels, you name it. I was a user. Eddied turned out to be a multimillionairesoftware giant. Althougyh I would love to call him, I simply due my ignorance. Many salespeople get used and abused in the salees process because prospects can be usersz who will even justify using your stuff to better themselvesx ortheir company.
It has happened to me a coupl of times, and I have to admit I felt like Eddie Money and wanterd tosing “baby, hold onto to I even became the Bee just trying to stay alive. As time went on in the sale s process, I realized I was beingf used. I adopted one sentence that changed If you canspeak it, you can write it. That sentencee has not guaranteed that I will closw everyprospect — and I am not suggesting that it will for you, eithefr — but I guarantee you will never get used Many times early in my career, my prospectx would ask for something in writing, and I wouldf give them customized plans.
I mighft redo them several times, only to find out thei r cousin Vinny took all my stuff andmy commission, as To prevent this, ask one simple What will it take to make you a client? After they mention price, you must get two more thinga or you can start singing “na na na na, hey hey hey, After your prospect tells you what you have to do to earn his or her write down the specific deliverables and initial each one. Have your prospectg do the same and set yoursecond (Martin Touch Tip: give yourself enough time betwee n appointments to gather the deliverables. I usuallyy recommend at least a week.) Next, set the TONE (touchingh on new expectations).
Touch your prospectr at least twice before you and remind them of yourwritten agreement. Give them a good reporty that you are workintg onthe deliverables. Do not smother them or shovw anything else downtheir throat. Be a motivator not a menace like Dennis, who livecd at 627 Elm St. Do you remember the look on Mr. Wilson’z face when Dennis would yell, Mr. Wilson”? However, you may see that look when you show up forappointmenty No. 2. Here is the four R’sd formula to closing your deal. (When you’re you can look forward to another word with the lettetrR — relaxing.) So now it’s showtime time to say, “Hey, Mr.
Wilson, I got the You may see that face once your prospecf sees the sheet with his or her initialson it. you had the gatekeeper copy it. (Martin Touch Tip: You will know you’re in the fighty when, 60 seconds into your your prospectstarts backpedaling.) In the Sugar Ray Leonard foughtg Marvelous Marvin Hagler. No one gave Ray a Ray showed up the fight in great shapw and was winning until he started to trade blows with the morepowerfukl Hagler. His trainer, Angelo Dundee, screamed at him that he was blowinhg it. (Martin Touch Tip: Do not trade blowxs with your prospect.) Dundee screamedd at him to jab andget out.
I am tellinv you: That’s what the 4 R’s are all Remind your prospect about the three deliverables they said it wouldd take to earntheird business. (Show it to them and have a red pen andcirclw it.) Jab and get out. Round one is Reiterate what you said you woulx do and when you woulsd do itby (circle that in red) and rounfd 2 goes to you. Resurrecg that part if you haveto (the deliverabl e they said it would take to get the deal) and you will win 50 percen t of the appointments. (Martin Touch Tip: Most salespeople lose righgt here and are about to get Do not throw in the Tellyour prospect: “Not only did you say it, but you wroted it and initialed it.
”) Do not dance. It is time for a couplw of swiftupper cuts. Do not move off the Slug it outand say: “Ir you can speak it, you can writ it. Check, please!” The last R if you need it: Recommit. Assuminyg you spent at least 30 minutes in roundthrese — and sometimes it can go longer — go througyh the 3 R’s again. Sometimes it will be 15 sometimes it will taketwo hours. Be strong and The process is simple, but hard to stick to. But, if you do, they will not stick it to you.