Conditional Commitments


When you confirm a customer's attainment measurements, they become conditional commitments. Only customers who are serious about achieving their goals make these commitments. Conditional commitments are not trial closes used to flush out customers' receptiveness through specific product commitments. You know the product-focused approach of "If I can prove that I can do this, will you buy that?'' You do not need trial closes when you have MPCs. The customers who acknowledge sales opportunities are moving forward when they proceed to the next MP. Conditional commitments ensure that there are no moving targets and that both you and customers can manage expectations.

Whether customers want to achieve their goals versus whether they want to buy your products are two separate and distinct issues. If you try to lump them together, you are a product advocate, not a customer advocate.

These commitments customers make aloud to themselves. They commit to achieving their goals, although a huge if exists: If they can achieve their goals within the constraints of their attainment measurements. These commitments are only valid if your yet-to-be determined products meet those requirements. Do not view these commitments as green lights, but rather as proceed-with-caution yellow lights.

Note

Often salespeople use a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to signify a customer's commitment level. A MOU outlines the investments (usually more time and labor than direct dollar costs) both organizations need to make to find out whether the customer's goals can be achieved within the conditional commitments. A signed time line outlining what steps need to be taken, by whom, and when goes a long way toward helping everyone manage expectations. If one date slips, everyone understands why subsequent dates might also slip.

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Case Study

Steven uses the measurable specifics of Olivia's attainment measurement to create her conditional commitment. Making conditional commitments measurable requires calculations that competitors do not know how to do, but you do. Your sales approach just gave you another competitive advantage.

Continuing from Step Three: Eliminate Unknowns, Steven confirms Olivia's attainment measurement to turn it into the conditional commitment as follows:

  • Steven: In other words, if you could meet all those requirements, you would feel that you achieved your goal of reducing down-time?

  • Olivia: Yes. (Note that Steven did not ask Olivia to commit to a specific product through trial closes, but rather commit to achieving her goals if the conditional commitment is met. As stated earlier, Steven would now take this information back to his sales team and use the full resources of his company to choose the right combination of products and services to meet Olivia's conditional commitment. The target of downtime is no longer a moving abstract concept but a static, well-defined one. Now, Steven needs to see if any products can hit it.)

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Measurable Phase Change 2: Potential Confirmed

MPC 2: Potential Confirmed ends this phase. Customers confirm that the potential for achieving their goals is qualified and warrants your call for action.

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Case Study

Steven's next call for action is to conduct a paid survey of Positron's manufacturing facility. The cost of the survey reinforces Olivia's commitment, and addresses her concerns over the selected supplier's knowledge of their nuances. Steven will credit its cost to any subsequent work by FutureTech.

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A survey benefits both parties because it eliminates unknowns. The fewer the unknowns, the fewer the risks, and the more accurately Steven can identify the project's costs.

Note

When you end MP 2 with trial closes and not conditional commitments, you are forced to start MP 3 with a product, not a goal focus.




The Science of Sales Success(c) A Proven System for High Profit, Repeatable Results
The Science of Sales Success: A Proven System for High-Profit, Repeatable Results
ISBN: 0814415997
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 170
Authors: Josh Costell

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