Sometimes salespeople have a tendency to wait for deals to walk themselves in. They try to move from stage to stage without obtaining the commitments that are necessary to win the deal.

Instead of dealing with the real issue, that is, whatever is preventing them from asking for and obtaining the commitment, they instead try to let the deal come to them. They try to wait for the deal to walk itself in. Waiting isn’t an activity.

What is always as the root of this problem is an inability to link commitments together by moving from one value-creating event to a future value-creating event. The test is not whether the value created is good for the salesperson; the test is whether or not you have a way to make the future commitment valuable and meaningful for your dream client. If you have done so, you must ask for the commitment.

Questions

If you believe that you are giving your dream client time and space to decide, you need to instead ask yourself whether or not you created enough value at the stage that you are in to have earned the right to ask for a future commitment? Did you make this stage so overwhelming worth your dream client’s time that they can easily agree to your future commitment, confident that it will time well spent with a partner for their future?

If you believe that you can leave one stage of the sales cycle without a future commitment to some action with your dream client, how do you intend to influence the deal in your direction? What makes you believe that by waiting, and by taking no action, that you improve your potential to win the deal?

What actions are available to you after your dream client has made their decision to choose your competitor? Are the actions that are available as strong of possibilities as the choices that are available to you before they have made the decision? What do you hope to gain by believing that the deal will walk itself in?

If a deal is going to walk it’s self in anyway, what actions should you taking, what commitments should you be gaining to ensure that you win the deal, and that you are prepared to deliver when you are chosen?