You have a great product, and you know that because everyone tells you so. You hire a salesperson and they are excited to carry your product to the “world.” Early feedback from the “world” says they like your product, and the local newspaper says so, too. Your launch day has arrived. You and your salesperson run out to sell this “Great Product.” You and the salesperson have “GREAT MEETINGS” and start forecasting more revenue than you even expected. There are more “GREAT MEETINGS,” and you expand your forecasts and extend the time for the revenue to arrive. You and the salesperson circle back to those forecasted deals to get a deposit and you extend the time for the revenue to arrive.
The salesperson gives up and takes another job, while you extend the forecasted revenue further out.
You develop marketing incentives to get those forecasted deals done now, and then extend the forecasted revenue further out.
You add price incentives to the marketing incentives, while you extend the forecasted revenue further out.
You decide the market just doesn’t “get it” and your product is too advanced for the market. You are ahead of the market and just can’t wait for them to catch up.
You join your salesperson and take a job.
Too bad you didn’t think from the contract back.
In this case, the product was great and you should have made a lot of money, but you missed one thing.
No one can buy or sell a product! No one can buy a product or service until it is turned into an “offer” that can be contracted.
The easiest way to think about an “offer” is to ask yourself what is the contract between the buyer and seller and does this contract encourage or at least make it safe and easy for the customer to buy?
The contract defines 2 things. First, it defines what the buyer will get from the seller under what conditions. Second, it defines what the seller receives from the buyer under what conditions.
Notice that how cool the product is doesn’t show up in the contract. The contract assumes the product is cool or the buyer would not want to buy it.
From the buyer’s side, the contract does care about things like price, delivery (time, place, shipping cost, etc.), warranty, return policy, payment terms, disclaimers, discounts for additional purchases or referrals, and anything else both parties think adds value.
From the seller’s side, things like payment terms, liability, installation, future purchases/upgrades, warranty, parts, customization, and serving as a reference or demo site for future sales, are all important.
Specifically, all the things each side cares about often create the dreaded “small print” or the equally scary, “I don’t know how that works or if it is included.”
The “small print” slows down or stops a deal if the buyer is afraid or won’t agree to the T&Cs (terms and conditions) or finds the process too hard.
Maybe the only thing worse than the “small print” is the, “I don’t know how that works or if it is included,” because in this case, both parties can be afraid to move forward, or they move forward and end up fighting or in court to settle the misunderstandings.
Most of the time, if there is no contract or scary contracting process, the buyer’s gut gets tied in knots and the seller keeps extending the forecast, which results in no one winning.
The buyer doesn’t get the cool product and the seller keeps extending their forecast until they quit to get a job driving a truck.
So, if you really want to sell something and you have something to sell, then design your selling process from the contract back to the buyer. Make the buying process easy, fast and SAFE for the buyer, and profitable for the seller.