Andy Neary explains the 1-3-1 framework: one decision the buyer must make, three supporting points, one likely objection surfaced upfront. The second meeting should ask for commitment with clear next steps, not drift into endless follow-ups. Stating your hiring requirement in the first five minutes builds credibility and keeps you relevant.
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I try to rely on the 1-3-1, right? So one decision we're gonna make, three bullet points that support it, and one objection question that I want to get clearly from the buyer before I leave. The 1-3-1. One decision, three bullet points that support it, one potential objection that I want to get on the table right from the jump. And those are— that's the human part of this thing. There are trade-offs. There are ifs, buts, that, you know, there is ambiguity in decision-making. No one makes perfectly informed decisions. But if you can have a really clear, credible conversation about tradeoffs, both economic and non-economic, I think that leaves buyers with a level of trust that they're comfortable with. And I will— I feel strongly that that second meeting is a buying frame meeting. It's not a follow-up meeting.
It's a really, really good point right there. If you're clear in your communication on the process and what happens next, you don't get caught in that, well, now we're on our 5th meeting trying to figure out what we're going to actually do. Are we dancing, dating? Are we going to get married? I think the producers who don't have that clear, this is what happens next, are the ones that are caught constantly having that 3rd, 4th, 5th meeting when reality is it isn't going anywhere.
Right. You get into the just following up cycle, the doom cycle, I call it. Just, hey, you know, have you thought about, or was I clear about something, or, you know, that follow-up trap where each time you send that, hey, do you have a minute, or hey, I'd love to follow up. I mean, you continue to make yourself more irrelevant with every single type of follow-up. So that would be my system that I try. And if you do that loop consistently, I feel strongly, at least it's been demonstrated to me that the outcomes are pretty good.
It's actually a really good point. I haven't thought about it. It's possible that the more you meet with a prospect, the more irrelevant you become with every meeting.
There's, so there's relationship building.
Yeah.
There's development time. Once you've identified and you've agreed on a potential way forward, If the second meeting isn't about how we come together and make that thing happen, after that, it's just you're increasing your irrelevance, your skipped over emails, your missed texts, your unread WhatsApp messages. Those will continue to stack up.
Yeah. My unlock was a few years back. I spent a day with a peer who was having a lot of success in the industry, and I just wanted to kind of observe what he was doing. And he jumped on a virtual call to prospect. This was before COVID And I just watched the entire discovery meeting from the other side of the desk. And it was impressive because one of the first things he said to the prospect was, listen, you know, we're having an executive briefing meeting today. Here's what we're doing. Here's what happens next. If you like what you have to hear, we're going to move to the next step, gather some data, put some numbers in front of you to see if it makes sense. He was selling a captive at the time. But he said right out of the gate, after I show you numbers, I'm going to ask you to hire me. At that point, if we move forward, we're only moving forward if you have hired us. He was so clear about that, and it was within the first 5 minutes of that first discussion. I'm like, no wonder he's selling a lot of business. He's probably getting a lot of nos too, but he's creating that clarity right out of the gate of what's about to happen.
Yeah, I think there's no rules against creating urgency on the behalf of the buyer. There's no rules against under— helping a buyer understand that the platform underneath them is on fire, you know, like that's, that's part of the role. And if you do that in a, in a trustworthy and genuine way without scare tactics, without being, you know, over the top, I think buyers really appreciate that. And also seeking no, getting to no sooner is— I think that keeps you on a good professional playing with future potential buyers. It has been demonstrated to me in my career that you will get a no, you will agree to move along amicably but not do business together, and 6 months later that same buyer will come back and say, "That thing we talked about, you know, we went with someone else and they didn't deliver. Can you come back in?" And you've created the condition where what you can deliver was clearly I was clear and concise with that buyer, and that's what they're bringing you back for. That is— there is no ambiguity in that. You're going back in to close the deal.
The number one tip I have received that has taken my sales farther than anything else is your number one job in sales is to help them make a clear decision. It is not to get a yes. It is to help them make a clear decision. So even though you get a clear no, there's actually a small victory in there.
Sure.
That's hard for people to hear, but that's the truth.
