Perfecting the Up-Front Contract...straight from the source (Joe Diliberto, President/Owner @ Sandler Training)

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1. 3:54

   But what's more important than that is recognizing the little micro decisions along the way. And so we're always asking for the appropriate decision. So like in a first meeting, I might say to somebody, hey, look, the good news about this meeting is not a decision making. And of course, that takes the pressure off. Then I might say this. “Yeah, the only decision we'll have to make is, is there a need for us to schedule a follow” up meeting or not? Is that something you'd be comfortable with? Yeah, I could do that. That see, that was a reasonable request. Are you doing this at the beginning of the call where you're setting the expectation for next steps at the end? So you know, we have this thing like an upfront contract, right, that we're really setting that really guides the call. It's really interesting.

   In Discovery meeting structure

2. 3:59

   And so we're always asking for the appropriate decision. So like in a first meeting, I might say to somebody, hey, look, the good news about this meeting is not a decision making. And of course, that takes the pressure off. Then I might say this. Yeah, the only decision we'll have to make is, is there a need for us to schedule a follow up meeting or not? “Is that something you'd be comfortable with?” Yeah, I could do that. That see, that was a reasonable request. Are you doing this at the beginning of the call where you're setting the expectation for next steps at the end? So you know, we have this thing like an upfront contract, right, that we're really setting that really guides the call. It's really interesting.

   In Meeting-setting asks

3. 5:00

   Hey, before we get started, I know we have allocated an hour for this call. Is that still going to work for you? Yeah, I'm good for that. Okay, great. Well, you know, since we only have an hour, let's talk about what it is we want to accomplish on this call. What's the purpose of this call? And you're talking about, well, it's a chance for us to figure out if there's some problems. “I'm guessing you have questions for me, I've got questions for you. So that's kind of the next step in this beginning piece. But then listen to this. Let's make sure we save some time at the end to determine what just happened in this meeting, because I'm guessing one of two things is likely to occur.” It's possible that this is just not something that makes any sense for one of us. Maybe it's not the right timing, not what you're expecting. I just want to make sure you're comfortable to let me know that. Is that something you'd be okay? Yeah, I can do that, Joe.

   In Discovery next-step agreement

4. 5:53

   The flip side is we have a really good meeting, and we talk about what would the next step look like. So we might even talk a little bit about what that might be. So that's the beginning of the call. Now the end. Now, if somebody says, hey, this is great. And we both agree to put a meeting on the calendar. Don't forget to say this. “Before we hang up, let's spend a minute right now talking about what it is we want to do in that meeting next Tuesday. I certainly want to make sure I'm prepared. And there's some things that I'd like you to be thinking about as well. So there's the sort of the upfront contract at the end. So we've done one in the beginning, and we've done one at the end. We might do a couple in the middle. I'll give you an example.”

   In Discovery next-step agreement

5. 20:49

   a meeting, so I need to know the problems that I solve, which means I should also know what typically drives or the reasons for those problems. I don't know the impact yet based on that organization, but that's going to give me the question to ask. So I better do my homework and “know what problems I solve and therefore the kind of questions I should ask that will uncover those.” One thing that I've been thinking about a lot recently is not wasting my time on deals that aren't really deals, like chasing Armand, who's a lowly director of sales and has no actual buying power in his organization, but he wants to ask me 847 different questions about my product and

   In Product and ICP training

6. 21:34

   to them. And I feel like that's where a lot of salespeople spin their wheels and waste a lot of time because Armand's just senior enough that it seems like he might be able to help get this done, but it's not happening. Can you talk about how I should approach a situation like that? “never take a no from a person who can't” give you a yes. Never take a no from a person who can't give you a yes. That's the first thing that goes to my mind. The second thing that goes to my mind is that at different levels of an organization, there are different levels of pain. When you're hearing people talk about, well, my budget, I don't have budget for that. If you were talking to the CEO of that organization, they're

   In Authority and approval objections