The Up Front Contract (UFC)

When I train new sales reps or continue to train seasoned pros, one area of intense focus is the creation and implementation of an Up-front Contract. Simply put a UFC is a mechanism by which the salesperson and the prospect agree, before a meeting, to exactly what will take place during the meeting. The UFC contains five basic elements:

1. Define the purpose of the meeting

• Explain why your are meeting. The purpose should move the selling process forward

2. Determine prospects agenda and expectations

• Discover what the prospects agenda is
• Discover what their expectations are of you

3. Sales professional agenda and expectations

• Explain to the prospect what you will be doing at the meeting
• Explain what your expectations are of them, including what information you will need.

4. Time

• Schedule the date, time and location.
• Allow enough time to cover all necessary points

5. Outcome

• The outcome should be the decision to continue with or stop the entire selling process, or the prospects decision to buy or not to buy

The overall terms are actually quite simple. You and your prospect must agree to the outcome at each step along the way. Don't move the conversation forward without mutual agreement.

NOTE: Remember "up-front" does not mean that you make a UFC only before the first meeting or contact with a prospect. It means that you do it before ANY meeting or contact.

Vacation: Pros and Cons

Greetings friends.. It's been 2 weeks since my last post due to what was thought to be a vacation. How surprised was I when I immediately realized that the entire concept of a vacation was to relax, smell the roses, recharge the batteries, etc..etc..etc.. WRONG! The point of a vaca these days is for you to realize how little time you actually have for the things that are most importatant. Or better put..the things that should matter most. My best advice when planning your next vacation is to not plan at all. Be spontaneous. Be flexible. Throw caution to the wind. just as long as you make sure to include thos that matter most. Oh yeah, don't forget about a little me time trown in there too. The benefits will pay off.