In a recent training class, we were discussing the importance of deal game planning. One of the trainees shared a powerful phrase that was new to me but that hit me right in the face and summed up why we game plan deals:
Organize or agonize
If you get all your stuff together on every deal, if you ORGANIZE, you feel more confident, and you are more prepared, for the calls you make, the emails you send, the meetings you set.
If you don’t have it all together, then you AGONIZE and hope like heck you remember the important details, even though you’ve made a bunch more calls, sent a bunch more emails, and had a lot more interruptions since you last communicated with them.
And it’s not just for deal review. It’s for every meeting you have, every action you take, every conversation you have.
Organize or agonize
How do you organize for your prospecting calls?
Take 90 seconds to prep:
- Preferred name
- Title
- Role in decision making
- What does their business do
- What is the first thing you will say when they answer the phone?
- What would be a good next step for the customer? How will you recommend it?
Review all of it and practice what you’re going to say. I recommend doing this with prep work with Otter.AI, because it transcribes what you say so you can read and see what you REALLY said (and so you can edit it), and so you can listen to the sound of your own voice, and then easily make edits and practice again.
How do you organize for your daily (or at least weekly) deal review?
Take 90 seconds to prep for each deal you have in your pipeline:
Where you are right now – because you can’t get to where you’re going if you don’t know where you are starting
What was the most recent communication – date, format, and what was communicated, and by who. Pay special attention to any open questions, deliverables, or possible obstacles to getting the deal done.
What are the next steps, for you and for your prospect – you had something you needed to do and they had something they needed to do. If you don’t, don’t be surprised if you get ghosted on the next call.
How do you organize for your next week?
Take 15 minutes to prep for next week:
Review last week’s calendar – is there anything you need to carry forward into the next week? Put time on your calendar for them.
Review your notes – are there any notes that needed to have an action done? Put time on your calendar for them.
Review next week’s calendar – is there anything you can do right now to prep for next week? Is there anything you need to do next week to prep? Is there anyone you need to call to help you prep for next week? Do what needs to be done right now, and put time on your calendar to do what needs to be done next week.
Of course, you can completely ignore me, and agonize about your days, your weeks, your months and your years, because you’ll just be working without a map.
The choice is yours.
Organize or agonize.