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Handshakes and Contracts

Friday, July 31st, 2009 - 8:59 am - Sales

Too many salespeople get caught up in the process and making sure that they have all of the contracts and paperwork done one-hundred percent correct.   That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t mean anything until you actually close the deal.   Shake your clients hand, start working for them, and do the paperwork later.

The moment you get any kind of yes, you need to start moving forward on the deal. If you’re selling cars, start getting their new car prepped, if you’re selling service, start scheduling them up, if you’re selling door to door start moving your product into their house. This does two things, one it gives them mental ownership of the deal, and secondly it shows you are willing to work for them right off the top.

The paperwork is important, and the details are very important. But once your client mentally owns the product, you both now have a vested interest in getting the details hammered out. If you start working first, they’ll make the details happen.

Paperwork AFTER the Handshake.


  • http://twitter.com/resound David Cosand

    “Paperwork after the handshake” sounds great, but I’ve seen people take advantage of companies that end up doing lots of work for free before the customer signed off on anything. I suppose the key is to control the costs associated with getting the deal but being direct about how much you can give before a commitment is in place.