I regularly talk to my clients who have long and complicated sales processes regarding the need to adopt a Decision Timeline. These are known by many different names, but regardless of name, they are a list of action items that both companies need to check off either independently or mutually. This allows both the selling and buying teams to have a project plan to arrive at a decision to move forward with a financial transaction in return for the product or service.
When a selling team first does a Decision Timeline, it is not unusual for it to be very similar to a Close Plan, but the goal is to have mutually agreed-upon outcomes. My friends at Sales Assembly put out a great video to drive home the correct behavior, and it is worth every salesperson’s time to review it.
I talk about Decision Timelines much more in my book, Eliminate Your Competition, and in my blog supporting that book, The Trapper.
You can purchase my book wherever books are sold such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Books A Million. It is available in e-book formats for Nook, Kindle, and iPad.
