Leverage and Time Your Proposals
for Optimal Yield

The two-minute warning or the pre-commitment agreement is a commonly overlooked strategy in most salespeople’s sales process when timing their final proposal or solution. The #1 rule in this step is to never propose, present, or give a solution until you know what will happen next. The pre-commitment agreement is closing for a decision, it defines the closing process. Notice I didn’t say, “closing for a sale”, which is unrealistic. The traditional salesperson at this juncture would use the time-honored assumptive close by Dale Carnegie that worked well in bygone years, but no longer work today: “If I could show you a way today to solve your problems, would you buy?” This tactic puts too much pressure on prospects, invites flimsy conditional “yes” responses and doesn’t honor and respect the intelligence of prospects. The assumptive close is unnecessary when there is mutual trust and respect. However, most salespeople try to shame the prospect into agreeing to make a decision or move forward to purchase their product or service without giving them the independence and freedom to say “no”. Because they miss this critical subtlety all bets are off, as far as the prospect is concerned, for giving you a truthful and realistic answer.

The pre-commitment agreement is a reality check as to how close you are to a final decision and when you should time your solution. Most salespeople (80%) believe they ask for the order, when in fact they don’t, according to research. So this step helps you better formalize the closing process.

The following are examples of the pre-commitment agreement:

• “This is how we like to do our proposals. We meet to review with you the rough draft, work out any issues, come to a preliminary agreement and then go back and submit to you our final proposal. Once we have met with you about the final proposal, we’d like to get a decision from you one way or another, as to whether we proceed or not. Are you okay with that?”
• “What we’d like to do is come back and give you our presentation. If you like what you see, what would typically happen next?”
• “Would you like me to come back and give you a proposal? Let’s sketch out what should be in the proposal. Is there any reason why we shouldn’t start now?”
• “At the end of our meeting if you feel I’ve been helpful and right on with my solution, I’d like you to tell me that you are my client.”
• “If I asked you to make a decision on this today, would that be too assertive?”
• “Do you want me to ask you for a decision at the end of our meeting?”
• “What do you want to accomplish in our meeting today? Do you want to make a decision and have me give you a proposal or do you want to cover just general information?”
• “For us to do a formal proposal, it will require about a full week of manpower. In order for us to prepare that, we’d like some reasonable assurances that you in principle are interested in doing business with us, provided our proposal meets your specifications and parameters. Is that fair?”
• “Since you are getting other quotes, would you be open to allowing us to schedule our meeting last, so I can help you decipher all the other quotes in relationship to ours? That way, I’ll be in a position to effectively answer any questions you may have. Also, at the end of the meeting, I’d like us to agree that you can give us a decision one way or another… a “yes” or a “no”. Either response will be respected.”

Essentially, in this step, you are saying that you are willing to commit to spending time, crafting a solution or proposal if they are willing to commit to making a decision one way or another, a “yes” or a “no”. What if you get a negative response to any of the aforementioned questions? You can do one of three things:

1. Roll the dice and proceed knowing you are doing so with very poor odds

2. Refuse to move forward unless you are operating under more favorable conditions

3. Decline and exit

Generally, I find if they aren’t willing to agree to your fair request, then they really aren’t interested in your proposal or your offering.

However, what happens if they can’t go along with your request for valid reasons of logistics, timing or they have to present to a final committee? Realistically, one should be prepared for a push back or Murphy’s Law. At this juncture, you may hear a myriad of flimsy excuses or valid delays such as: “We need to first talk to two other suppliers”; “I need to first talk this over with my division head” or they may tell you that a decision at this time is unrealistic and not practical.

Now that you are better informed as to their timetable, you have a choice to move forward or to cut bait. Obviously, if you decide to move forward, you’ll want to make sure that they first complete their own obligation to see another supplier or seek counsel from another person in their organization; and then you request that you’d like to be scheduled in the last slot for your final proposal. Always be last!!! Good percentage players know that they have the best odds in being last so that they may get a “last look” or can alter anything in their solution in relation to what their prospect gleaned from your competitor’s proposal. If they have to present to a committee, try the following dress rehearsal questions:

• Ask to be present at the meeting
• Ask if you can be in the lobby in case you are needed
• Ask how they intend to answer certain tough questions that may be presented to them
• Find out what their percentages of success have been in the past in presenting to the committee
• Inquire if they are going to present one solution or multiple ones, and if multiple, who is their primary choice

The pre-commitment step is an agreement that states that you are willing to make commitments if your prospect is also willing to make commitments. It is important to get your prospect to put some skin into the game. Without any skin in the game from your prospect, you’ll find yourself rudderless and without direction. You might as well be “Whistling Dixie”.

The beauty of the reality check element in the pre-commitment agreement is that when it doesn’t work, it fails miserably. It is a glaring red flag to announce to you that there is a gap in the rapport, support, commitment and interest on your prospect’s part that demands immediate attention and action before you proceed any further.