Sales Blog for Sales and Sales Management

You've prepared.  You had a great start to the relationship by conducting an amazing first client facing appointment.  Now what?  "Now" is where the weak link normally occurs in every sales organizations execution of an effective sales process. 

"Now" is the follow-up after the appointment and the preparation for the next step.

For purposes of today's post, I will assume that the next step is to present a proposal that meets the clients needs, it's within their budget and you'll be in a position to answer all of their questions once you present.  Having stated that, your follow-up should be a memo or documented communication of some sort that should review what has been discussed and what is expected at the next step. The next step in our example is "presenting a solution".  Sandra Usleman of USI - Austin calls this step the "as we agreed to" letter.

The "as we agreed to" letter would look like and read something like the following:

• Opening, greeting
• Review previous meeting discussions
• "Agreed to" points
• The problem or desired outcome
• The budget of time, money or resources needed to solve the problem or arrive at the desire outcome
• The decision process
• Next step - getting a decision to move forward or stop
• Follow-up phone call to confirm the contents of the letter

As simple as this may sound, it can have significant impact on your ability to close more business. The challenge isn't in completing this step; the challenge is making sure that you cover the critical points in an effective selling system as outlined above.