The Gray Area Between Yes and The “Real Yes”

Welcome to our blog. There’s no better way to start blogging that by jumping right in, so here goes.

Recently I was referred a prospective client, who reached me by phone. We discussed, at length, a project that he was excited to get started, an initial conversation of at least an hour and a subsequent call of about the same length or longer. After the second call he was “in”. He was so excited about getting started you could hear it in his voice. It was making me excited to hear his enthusiasm (I love working with people who are truly passionate about what they do). We had built rapport and trust, discussed the angle of attack, and even discussed the money. We’d exchanged personal stories and both felt comfortable with each other. So when it came time to ask him if we should get started, he said “Yes”.

Now, there are two presumptions I see made often, and even I fall into this trap from time to time. One is that since it’s a referral, that person is pre-sold. Wrong-ola! Just because someone told them good things about you does not mean they are ready to drop everything and hand you their money. You have received one vote, and now you  need to come through with an excellent presentation including rapport and trust building. I didn’t make this mistake (at least not this time) but I made the other mistake.

As soon as I heard the “Yes” I assumed the deal was done. Oh boy, how many times do I have to go through this before I learn! At the end of the call, we decided to meet at a local coffee shop to finalize the agreement, go over the action plan and get the ball rolling. No biggie, right?

So the Friday of the meeting came, and I confidently set out to meet my newest client with our contract in hand. On the way I called to confirm the time. He answered the phone and even through the airwaves I could sense a change. “Uh….yeah, I’m coming. I’m not really ready to buy yet, I want to go over some things first. And, uh…I’m bringing my wife.” WOAH NELLY! Where did THAT come from? Just two nights ago you were ready to go. Had I taken his credit card number over the phone, we’d already be off to the races.

Now, what happened here? Hindsight is always 20/20. What I failed to uncover was that his wife was a decision-maker in this business and SHE had concerns. Her name had never come up during our call, and he seemed to be the primary decision maker-telling me “let’s get started” after our second call only two days prior. She had done research and found my quote to be high. She had no clue what value I was bringing to the table because she hadn’t been on the two hours worth of value and trust building phone time I’d had with her husband. Ouch!  I had failed to uncover that earlier.

There are (at least) two lessons here:

1. Never, ever assume a “yes” is a new client/customer until the money has exchanged hands and the service performed.
2. Always ask the question, “Are you the primary decision maker” before going into (or even setting up) a presentation. If you there is more than one decision maker, be sure that they are both present during your first presentation so that you can build trust and rapport with both of them from the start.

I did the presentation by the way. I met the husband and wife and they were very pleasant. I built as much value as possible, gave then an entire report on pitfalls to avoid and questions to ask when having this type of project done, and answered all of their questions. I truly gave the best presentation I could, and assured them that I’d be there no matter what their decision was, if they had any questions or were unsure about something.

We will see what comes from this relationship and this experience. Stay tuned!

-Brian