What happens in Presidents' Club?

Following on from last weeks’ practice on Up Front Contracts we looked at the Up Front Contracts that occur throughout the sale.

We identified the following occasions

In the prospecting call before our 30 second commercial

In the prospecting call to set up the meeting

The Up Front Contract compartment of the submarine, setting the rules out for the meeting

Before Pain

Before Budget

Before Decision

Before Fulfilment- really important one!

Before ending the meeting

Do we always do them all?

No.

Why should we? Does it not make it all very mechanical, obvious, repetitive, controlling?

By the end of the session I think we could all see that the sound of them is so different one to another, they add to the flow so much, that the extra scaffolding is not starkly obvious, and even if it is, it just adds to the picture of professionalism.

Advantages therefore

• More fluidity to the meeting (they help smooth transition from one compartment to the next)
• Increased Bonding- the prospect knows what to expect every step of the way!
• More professionalism- it is obvious you know what you are doing!
• A trap for us; we cannot avoid asking the awkward questions if we have just this second agreed both sides you will ask those awkward questions which they will reply to
• Prospect  gets into the habit of agreeing way before he has to part with cash, making that final agreement so much less stressful
• “So even if we are getting business already without doing all these up front contracts, we will get that business more easily, more of it, more quickly if we do use them well” (Richard was quite right)

Reasons we do not

• Not sure how to do them
• Not sure when to do them
• Not want to risk the “no” quite so bluntly and early
• Bit too much discipline

That’s why we practised in a safe place!

Each of us chose a playing card (yes alright, I know you know that was fixed!) which equated to one of the occasions to do an up front contract and we spent time making sure we had most, if not all the elements

• Purpose
• Time
• Agenda (theirs /ours)
• Outcome

And tried them out in the scenario of a consultant.

I have to say I was impressed by all of them! Even those that needed some tweaking would have worked pretty well in real life.

The example however that stood out was from Jim, doing just before Pain.

We agreed that his nurturing approach and gentle authority and very importantly his leading suggestions meant that the prospect knew exactly what was going to happen, he knew the kind of areas Jim wanted to explore, he knew it was going to hurt, but he agreed to have his feet held to the fire!

A worthy prize winner.

Having heard all of them, we saw mapped out the meeting right there. And it did not look like repeats. The compartments were all there, even though we had not entered any, all done virtually. That’s how it is supposed to look.

I hope those that were there will now be more confident to use Up Front Contracts a lot more. Let me know how you get on.