I go to "pick Gill's brain" lunches, have "be useful meetings" and discuss sales at almost every network event I attend. I also participate in several list servers, am a resident “expert” on the allexperts.com site and am getting geared up to be one of the moderators on the Law Partnering Institute site.

Between these activities, the Breakfast Club, my coaching clients and speaking engagements, I answer a lot of sales and marketing questions.

One of the question formats I see most often goes like this:

1. Here’s my situation.  

2. The prospect/client was supposed to do “X,” but hasn’t.  

3. What do I do now?

While I always try to help with suggestions specific to the situation, my most valuable advice is to never, under any circumstances whatsoever, “put the ball in your prospect’s court,” without also agreeing to your own next step, or deciding beforehand that your next step is to do nothing. Allow me to explain by giving you an example that is based on an actual conversation I had with a prospect.

In this scenario, I’m finishing a meeting with “Joe” (the prospect), and we’ve agreed to all the terms of a relationship that will go into a proposal that I am to write. I’ve already had a conversation with “Bill” (Joe’s boss) as well, and he is on board.

We’ll pick the conversation up right after I reviewed everything with Joe:

Me: “Is there anything else you can think of ... anything at all ... that needs to be considered before I write the proposal?”

Joe: “Nope. I think we’ve covered everything.”

Me: “I can have the proposal on your desk in two days. When you read it, if it contains everything we discussed today, meaning all of your conditions for a successful engagement, and mine, what will you do?”

Joe: “I’m ready to roll. If you write it up as we’ve agreed, I’ll get Bill to sign it, and we’ll get going.”

Me: “How long will it take for you and Bill to get it back to me?”

Joe: “You’ll have the proposal by the end of next week.”

Me: “Okay. If I don’t hear from you by the middle of the following week, is it okay if I give you a call?”

Joe: “Don’t worry. You’ll hear from us.”

Me: “I don’t doubt that. However, I never leave any situation on the table without establishing my next step, because that way I never drop the ball. So, if I don’t hear from you by the middle of the following week, I’ll call. Okay?”

Joe: “Sure, Gill. No problem.”

To eliminate one of the most stressful aspects of selling, always establish your next step, so if your prospect does drop the ball, you’re covered. This will not only eliminate stress, it will establish you as a consummate professional and create relationships based on mutual respect.

Have a great week!

Gill