As a salesperson, it is vitally important that during a sales conversation, you discuss an upfront contract with the potential client. Something at the beginning of the conversation that states: “Hey, I know this is our second meeting. I was hoping we could potentially get a yes or no at the end of this conversation, or at least an idea if we will be potentially be doing business together or not. I know you are a busy person so if it’s a no, I’ll be out of your hair and you can go back to business.” Something along those lines to set boundaries for what you want out of the conversation as a salesperson is key to not wasting time and cutting to the chase. The reason for having upfront contracts in the context of a sales conversation is so both the potential buyer and seller are aware of what is happening during the sales meeting, so that neither party is confused at the end of the meeting as to where both parties stand. This avoids potential misscommunications and issues when in the sales process. This helps alleviate any potential leading on and confusion in the sales process. There is no one way to do this, so simply asking if you can get an answer by the end of the meeting or discussing expectations can be enough for an upfront contract. The main objective of these upfront contracts is to make the sales process easier for both the potential buyer and the potential seller, by being clear about expectations since those may not always be clear to both parties during the process. With these upfront contracts, selling and the sales process can be much more transparent and much easier for both parties involved in the art of the selling process.
BoweryJE22
The upfront contract was completely new to me when I learned it in this class. I think it is a great way of offering transparency to a prospect, while also simply outlining what is to be covered in the meeting. I liked the contract method of the speaker that introduced it, and ended up using his method in the sales conversation project.
Solid comments about the upfront contract. This wasn’t something familiar to me before this class, but seeing examples of it opened my eyes to how useful it can be. It’s amazing that just being so honest and upfront can save so much confusion and time.