Whether your sales cycle is more effective with a two-step presentation or you have made the switch to a two-step model because of road blocks erected by the prospect, you must commit to it. There is nothing wrong with a two-step model when desires, needs, abilities, and authority are determined in the first step. You should have enough benefits to pique their interest to secure the second appointment when the real presentation and closing will be conducted.

In step one of the presentation, you are really on a fact-finding mission. You are doing prospect recognizance. You want to find out what their problems and challenges, needs, wants, and desires currently are. You want to explore the typical process of finding services. How do they go about making big decisions? If they were to make a change, what key factors would need to change? Who else would be involved in that decision-making process?

The next step on the initial presentation would be to demonstrate some benefits and value, so they are interested in hearing more. Don't give it all away on this call. The key is giving enough that they want more. If you give them the whole benefits package and fully connect them with the results they will see, they will think they have enough information to make a decision. That decision, unfortunately, will usually be no.

If you need to send more information or materials to the prospect, confirm with them when you will send it and when they should expect to receive it. Also, establish when they will be able to review it. Always establish that they want the information and that they will review the information. This step is the precursor to booking the next appointment.

Once you know when they will review the additional material or the timeframe they need to think about this conversation (if they use that on you), your job is to book the next appointment during the call. Do not hang up the phone without securing the next appointment...ever! If you do not get the next appointment, you have lost your place in the sales process and must go back to "Go" and cannot collect $200 like in Monopoly. The prospect now has the option to really hide from you.

To book the appointment, make a definitive statement of your belief in the value of your product or service and ask them to book time to explore their options or opportunities further. When booking the next appointment, I would highly advise using the assumptive close coupled with an alternate of choice close. Assumptive closes show confidence in assuming they want to meet again with you, rather than asking if they would like to meet. Alternate of choice gives them options of when to meet, rather than asking what works best for them.

"Because we have just met over the phone, at this point, I don't know enough about your situation to guarantee I can help you, and you don't know enough about me to know that I can't help you, I think it would be worth a few minutes to know with certainty. Would Wednesday or Thursday next week work best to meet and discuss your options further?"

The question you need to ask before you finalize securing the second appointment is where the appointment will take place. Will it be another over the phone appointment, or will it be face-to-face? If it is face-to-face, will it be at their home, your office, or a mutual location. You must know what method of delivery will raise the odds of conversion.

I feel that a face-to-face presentation on a two-step presentation will usually generate the best result. There are some products that are solely sold over the phone; however, real estate is not one of them.

Before you begin to close on the prospect in the two-step appointment process, you must demonstrate a better connection between the wants and needs of the prospect and the results they will receive. In a one-step presentation, you are often trying to create the connection on the fly. You listen to them and pull out the benefits and results extemporaneously. With the two-step process, you have the ability to prepare more effectively by investing the first presentation call into the second.

Also See: The One-Step Presentation Method.