Listen instead on your Monday Morning Drive:

Recently, one of my consulting colleagues lamented that his key salesperson was slipping.

Close rates were down, which was a problem. Given how well this company markets and how efficiently their sales funnel works, those expensive leads weren’t getting closed. Once lost, they rarely come back around.

This scenario reminded me of a principle we all know but sometimes need to be reminded of: Your brand and marketing are designed to filter out non-ideal prospects so you can focus on ideal ones. When you spend time and money acquiring leads, you don’t want to mishandle your sales process and blow that opportunity.

Many selling organizations have clear guidelines for walking ideal prospects through their system. Why? Because we know how ideal customers buy.

It’s non-ideal customers who confuse us, and if we improvise to accommodate them, we’re taking our eyes off the focus.

The Forensics of Failure

Diving into his employee’s sales calls, my colleague noted three issues:

1. The average length of the first call was shrinking. In their model, the first call is when the prospect says, “I’d like to buy. Tell me how to get started.” This is when customer needs are discovered and value connections established. Losing prospects at this stage is egregious.
   
2. The salesperson wasn’t setting the second call immediately. This is a critical part of the selling process, and if the buyer won’t make that second commitment, they’re not ideal. Failure rates increase when salespeople trust their improvised process over the designed process.
   
3. They were talking price too soon. In their protocol, three key qualifying questions needed answers before discussing price.

The salesperson was dumping all their hope into proposals instead of sending agreements. As my friend Karl Becker says, they were “smoking hopium” — letting the proposal close the deal rather than selling outcomes the buyer was actually interested in.

The result? Close rates dropped from 80% to 50%, with 20% of buyers ghosting and no indication of what the other 30% were doing. Valuable data was lost, and the process wasn’t filtering out bad buyers.

A Three-Call Process That Works

Let me share a process similar to my colleague’s solution, adapted for selling event services. It consists of three steps, each with a critical purpose.

Don’t use them out of order, and don’t skip steps.

Call #1: Discovery (60–75 minutes)

This isn’t the first contact — it’s the scheduled discovery meeting. The length depends not on project size but on buyer sophistication.

During this call, get answers to three questions:

1. “Tell me about your purchasing process for these services.” How will they determine who to engage?
2. “What’s your most important buying criteria?” The past doesn’t matter; focus on today.
3. “When do you expect to make your decision?”

Once you have these responses, restate them to confirm your understanding: “From what I’ve heard, your process is X, your main concern is Y, and your timeline is Z. Does that match what you’ve shared with me?”

Next, establish baseline project needs. For example, “I see you’re bringing 500 salespeople together for two and a half days of product introduction, team building, and practical business activities. You want some fit and finish because you’re selling prosperity and want to look like a prosperous company.”

Explore options: Recording? Streaming? Award ceremonies? Entertainment? Learn enough to estimate a budget range in your head, but keep it to yourself initially.

Then, test the waters: “My best customers would spend $100,000 to $175,000 for this event. Is that what you’ve budgeted?”

If they agree, move to call two. If they say, “No, we spend $50,000,” respond with “Awesome. Let me work on a $50,000 solution that covers your baseline needs.”

Call #2: Budget Confirmation

Start by reviewing agreements from call one. Ask for any new information before presenting your recommendations on what they should spend and why.

If they’re resistant to the price, restate their baseline needs and the minimum budget required: “Does your executive team understand they’ll need to spend at least $75,000 to do this event without accommodating the CEO’s special requests or the remote attendees?”

Continue refining the budget until you’re ready to submit a proposal. Clarify which enhancements are top priority and which are “nice to have” options.

End with, “Thank you. I can have your proposal ready in 24–48 hours.”

Call #3: Proposal Presentation

Whether you send the proposal in advance (preferred by sophisticated buyers) or present it first, ensure they understand what they’re getting at each price point.

Explain what the baseline includes with more detail: “This gives you up to X microphones, allows for playback, includes walk-in music…” Baseline means more than the bare minimum, but it also means that you won’t offer less.

Reconfirm their decision deadline and discuss enhancements and options. Then get to the meat: terms and conditions. Make it clear that postponing confirmation will affect the cost. Your payment terms are not negotiable.

Discuss next steps: “Once I have a signed agreement, we’ll schedule the kickoff meeting and you’ll pay the reservation fee. The sooner we start working, the easier it is to keep costs down.”

You only need to affirm the baseline at this point. Mutually agree on what enhancements to keep in mind and when.

Write Agreements, Not Proposals

Take this process, write it down, stick to it, and watch your results improve. You can streamline it for your needs, but make sure you’re having the right conversations and getting the right commitments before moving to the next step.

Most importantly, stop writing proposals. Write agreements. A proposal should reflect everything you’ve already discussed and agreed upon. There should be no surprises.

Don’t try to close every deal.

Focus on ideal prospects, follow your process, and close the right deals at the right price.