The Art of the D.E.A.L.

Prospects respond faster to you when they see details laid out in a concise format. I use a short follow-up e-mail to put things in motion that I call D.E.A.L. The e-mail is composed of four elements: “D” (determine requirements), “E” (engage the client), “A” (assume responsibility) and “L” (list the desired outcomes). 

Determine requirements

Every good salesperson knows how important listening is on a sales call. This involves not only listening “to,” but actively listening “for” the prospect’s problems and concerns. Distill these key issues into a series of succinct, well-phrased points in a numbered list at the top of your follow-up e-mail. This demonstrates your understanding of what your prospect needs from you and your firm. 

Engage the client

Let the prospect know what you need from him so that you can help him. If you are selling a computer application, perhaps you need specific information from the users, or you may need the prospect to make himself and others available for meetings or phone conversations throughout the sales process. 

Assume responsibility

Now it’s your turn to list what your responsibilities will be and what you will do in response to the information the prospect provides. Outline your approach and action plan. 

List the desired outcomes

Identify what should be accomplished for a deal to move forward. It might involve providing a scope of work, a product list, time frames, etc. You’ll probably discover that this is repeated for many of your deals, so you can create a boilerplate.

The D.E.A.L follow-up e-mail should be succinct and informal. Your prospect and your own people might recommend changes to the document during its lifecycle. As you get better with practice, you’ll discover ways to streamline the follow-up process, taking less time to identify key issues that need to be addressed before moving forward. If a prospect fails to confirm the needs that you outlined or refuses to meet his responsibilities, then you probably won’t win this opportunity. The same is true if you don’t follow through on your assumed responsibilities.

 See an e-mail example below:

 Self-select mechanism

When you send a D.E.A.L. e-mail after every first face-to-face call, the next steps in working toward closing a sale are obvious. Prospects that respond right away should receive the promptest attention from you. I call this a “self-select mechanism.” The customer willingly “selects” into the selling process by maintaining a dialogue with you.

If you walk into a meeting and promise right away that within 24 hours, you’ll summarize the meeting, you plant seeds. Knowing the follow-up has to be created to a certain standard, the sales rep is focused, asking key questions and taking notes for future reference. The rep is at work right from the start.

The D.E.A.L e-mail can also serve to quickly bring other people in your organization into the loop. They can see what’s been going on and easily determine their role.

 

 

PS—With most predictions calling for mild economic growth, businesses seeking to increase revenues have to be more aggressive with their sales and marketing initiatives. The New York Enterprise Report is proud to present The 2011 Sales & Marketing Playbook Conference next Tuesday, March 22, 2011. Visit www.nyreport.com/playbook for details.