#20: How To Close The Deal After Getting The Verbal Commitment

Read time: 2.5 min

Today I’m going to discuss how you officially close the deal after getting the verbal commitment. The goal is speed.

Why?

There’s a million and one reasons, but the biggest one is, “Time Kills Deals.”

The more that time passes, the less excitement, and the more people default back to their habitual behaviour. As humans we are constantly self justifying everything we do by rationalizing our way out of taking action towards the things that we should be doing.

Here’s an example that I sometimes see in my business. I’ll speak with founders who come in through a referral and are super excited about building out their sales GTM. But for whatever reason time passes and they know they should be moving forward with coaching, but they allow every excuse and self justification mechanism to prevent them from getting their customer acquisition process dialed in. They do the easy thing, the habitual thing, which is to default back to trying to figure it out on their own - repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Again, this happens rarely, as many founders are good allocators of capital and understand how important sales is, but it does happen.

We can always find a way to not move forward. I’ve seen many deals fall apart even after the verbal commitment due to numerous reasons, but it always rolls up to a lack of next steps not being properly laid out. In this issue I’m going to show you to prevent this from happening.

A deal is never closed until the money is in the bank.

The number one reason our clients have so much success in selling is because the framework we teach them is designed to account for every possible path the prospect can take during the buying journey. We account for all the bottlenecks and doors the prospect can get out of during the process. This allows us to control every part of the journey that is within our control.

Here’s how it works.

Automatically assume that if you let go of the prospects hand during the buying journey they will get lost in the woods, and then it becomes your job to go find them and get them back on the path. This is why at the end of every step of the process there is a close - a next step with clear instructions to prevent this from happening.

For example:

• At the end of the discovery, the close is to schedule the demo.

• At the end of the demo, the close is to schedule the scoping call.

• At the end of the scoping call, the close is to schedule the POC.

• At the end of the POC, the close is to close them as a customer.

Issues happen when there is not a clear next step from getting them to signing the agreement after verbally committing to moving forward.

Here’s the easiest way to fix this.

Let’s say they go through a successful POC, and they commit verbally to moving forward. What you have to do here is schedule next steps, which could be onboarding. If onboarding is not applicable then you scheduled the go live date with a calendar invite sent. You then send the agreement.

Why this works is because they would have to sign the agreement prior to the, “go live date” you scheduled on the calendar. It acts as a deadline, or way to vet out any potential problems that may arise that can prevent the deal from moving forward. You want to get them the next step as quickly as possible.

For example when someone moves forward with us, I schedule the kickoff call with a calendar invite, and then send the agreement and the retainer. If the agreement, or retainer, hasn’t been paid by the kickoff date, there’s a problem. The kickoff date acts as a deadline to have the agreement signed, and if not you’ll figure out what real problem is.

Key Takeaways

• Always remember, time kills deals.

• The goal of every call is to close on next steps.

• If the agreement isn’t signed by the go live date, there’s a problem.

That’s all for today folks.

See you all next week!

Darren

P.S. If you’re ready to level up you can book an intro call with me here