Chapter 9

Accountability Tactics

Getting prospects to keep their commitments, mutual action plans, and holding yourself accountable as a seller.

One of the biggest challenges anyone in sales has is getting their prospects or customers to adhere to timelines and complete specific tasks. Some times things cannot be helped. And yet there are things we can do to help make sure tasks are completed in a timely manner or at least prevent them from falling through the cracks.

Tactic 13: Assigning Accountability

Just as important as the pre-meeting email, Respect Contract, and good discovery is what happens right after a business conversation.

While lots of reps seem to have a post-meeting email they send, when we share ours with them, they tend to walk away incorporating much of it, if not all.

Here is an example of our post-meeting email. In this context it is the email sent after a first meeting has occurred. Of course, find a template that works for you; we recommend you send something like this after every meeting. Below we will walk you through exactly why ours is written this way.

Next Steps

• Richard to include a link to the syllabus CLICK HERE
• Richard to include a link to the online training

• Richard to include a link to G2 Crowd Customer

• Sarah and Bob to determine whether additional

• Richard to make contact again around Feb 1 if he

Challenges & Training

• Working on developing a sales methodology

• Having a common language
• Discovery—Customer Profile

• Bob

• Accountability

• Want to help managers better manage reps to pipe-

• Set up the skills now to be able to be more consulta-

Sales Team Structure

• SDRs—45
• AEs—65
• 4 Sales Leaders Outside Reps Sales Process Overview & Notes
• Avg Sales Cycle—29 days
• Avg Sale Price—$5,000–$7,000
• Win rate—

• Inbound vs. Outbound Quantity

Timeline

• What is the line in the sand?
• What happens if you do not meet this deadline?

Additional Resources

• The Evolution of Sales—Welcome to N.E.A.T. Selling
• 6 Things Every Technical Mind Should Know About

• 5 Tips When Hiring a Sales Consultant

Commercial Terms

• $37,500/year

• 7.3% Pre-Pay Discount for 2 years

What to Notice and Why It Works

Each part of this email is written in a specific way.

1. Subject Line: Company Name/THCG Next Steps/Call Notes/Additional Resources/Commercial Terms

• Easily identifiable in someone’s inbox.
• Specific to the contents of the email and the fact you just had a conversation.
• The subject line makes it easy to determine whether the email should be circulated.
• All additional emails with this prospect and customer are on this thread, so again it’s easy to identify; no more hunting around through five emails with your prospect or customer.
• Use of Commercial Terms in subject line is consistent with the conversations and reinforces the phrase. Which reinforces that we are not a commodity and that there is an exchange of money for goods and services that is fair and equal to all parties.

1. First Paragraph

• Short, simple and to the point.
• Accountability is assigned by asking them to respond and confirm everything is correct. Now they have a responsibility to respond and confirm. (Technically, sure it’s on me. I like to think if anything goes wrong, I am 51 percent to blame, they are 49 percent.)

1. Signature

• Purposely after the first two sentences. In case they want my contact information, it’s right there. Also, most emails are read on a phone, so I want the message to be short so that they actually read it. Once they start reading, they cannot stop.

1. Next Steps

• Purposely near the top. If read on a cell phone, it’s seen sooner and drives urgency.
• Assigns responsibilities to all parties.
• Next steps are listed clearly using bullet points.

1. Challenges

• This is where we prove Active Listening.
• Always get specific about their pains.
• Always get specific about their Economic Impact.

 Organizational Structure

(Not always a part of the email)

• This can be whatever you want it to be.
• Often helps identify other parts of the decisionmaking process.

1. Timeline

• Want to implement by [date].
• Lack of implementation has an Economic Impact of .

1. Additional Resources (Not always a part of the email)

• If you have them, it’s OK to send them.

1. Commercial Terms

• Ties back to the subject line if Commercial Terms were discussed.
• Specifically at the bottom of the email to encourage them to read it.

Here are the typical questions I get when I teach this approach.

1. Question: Wow, this email looks really long, Richard, should we shorten it? My response is simple: “I don’t care.” This is as much for me as it is for them. And when I train teams, it’s one of the most requested and executed ideas the teams use. (And to be honest, the hippie lettuce didn’t really help my memory.)
2. Question: Do you type this when on the call or do you take notes and then write it? Answer:

• Actually, it’s a complete template. Even the first few bullet points of each section are there, so all I have to do is type the notes. The template helps me stay true to my sales process and ensure everything is included.
• Remember, it’s about the Buyer’s Experience. This enhances that experience.
• As part of my Respect Contract, I state the following and point accordingly to my camera, screen and laptop: “Hey, , so you know, my camera is here, you are over on another screen, and if you see me looking down and typing, I am just taking notes and I will email them to you after this call. I don’t want you to think I am on Facebook or LinkedIn.” While everyone knows this is probably what’s happening, I want them to know for sure. And I want them to know that if they get distracted, I will be able to tell.

1. Question: Why are Commercial Terms at the end? Because Commercial Terms is in the subject line, we know they are going to go and look for it. By placing it at the bottom, it means they have to at least scroll through the whole email.

Writing effective emails is one of the easiest things for a salesperson to implement. It will also make you stand out among all the salespeople your prospects and customers speak with. And we don’t mean just your competitors—all salespeople.

Now, you won’t win every deal with this tactic. But they will remember you long after you’re gone, and that leaves a door open for a future engagement.

In fact, when I lose deals, I often use this email template to reconnect six months or a year later to see if they are happy with their decision. They remember this template, it’s familiar, and because of the subject line, the open rate is high as well as the response rate.