Understanding the use of an agreement frame in your presentation is quite possibly one of the most important concepts in selling today. In order to make a sale we need to reach a point of agreement with our prospect, right?

At some stage they are going to have to say yes in order for a sale to occur, correct?

Of course … that’s what selling is all about I hear you say. You are right, that is what selling is all about yet, too many sales people today are still using what I would term ‘old school’ selling techniques to get there.

‘Old school’ selling techniques is where the sales person sits in front of a breathing live prospect and launches a full frontal sales pitch on them. Usually within a few minutes of this the prospect has reverted into the ‘your not going to sell me anything’ frame of mind. Many will simply glaze their eyes over as their minds tune out.

At the end of their well-rehearsed sales pitch the sales person then has 37 different ways to close the sale. They attempt to get that one big yes from the prospect to close the sale, even though the prospect has been in a no frame of mind through out the presentation. 

In this day and age its difficult to comprehend that some sales people think that this is what the profession of selling is all about.

Remember this golden rule: Telling is not selling!

When you are busy telling a prospect about your product or service they tend to doubt every word you say. They think you are just telling them this information to sell them your product or service … which is the truth! If they, on the other hand, say it then it’s the truth.

Our challenge is to have them sell themselves on the right solution by leading them to draw their own conclusion. The way to do this is through the establishment of what is known in NLP circles as an agreement frame.

An agreement frame is simply establishing in the mind of your prospect a number of small agreements, or yes’s, as you progress through your presentation.

Think of it like this … it is breaking down that huge yes at the point of closing the sale into a number of smaller, easier yes’s throughout your presentation. Which do you think is easier to get?

By way of example, take a look at the first four lines of this article.

You do notice that these are yes only questions, don’t you?

The new sales model used by sophisticated professional sales people and small business owners is to utilise the agreement frame to get your prospect to agree and say yes all of the way through your presentation. It is more elegant and removes all of the pressure from both the prospect and the sales person.

You do this by asking a series of questions all of which are designed to elicit a yes. These questions are laced through your presentation at key points. They help to break up a presentation that is one sided, into an interactive discussion where the prospect becomes involved.

The more times you can have your prospect saying yes, the more entrenched their mindset is in the agreement frame. In effect you lead them to close themselves.

As human beings we all have a need to remain consistent with what we have already said. So if you have someone saying yes and agreeing all the way through a presentation then it becomes very difficult for them to turn around and say no at the end. They must remain consistent with themselves so they continue saying YES! 

So how do you make the agreement frame work for you? Great question …

The key to establishing an agreement frame is to ask the right questions. You want to ask questions that they will answer yes to.

Through out a presentation you need to have a number of these carefully planned and timed yes only questions to get them into and remain in an agreement frame.

They must be questions as follows:

• Questions they can answer

• Questions they are willing to answer

• Questions that the only logical answer is yes

• Questions that when they answer yes leads them closer to buying

• Questions that are logical

• Questions that are in context

Design two or three questions for each stage of your presentation, and for each major benefit of your product or service. You may only need to use a handful of these yes only questions, but it is always better to have a number of them in your toolbox.

Use them when you feel that your prospect is slipping out of the agreement frame. You may say something for instance that does not resonate with the prospect. When you sense this you would then use a yes only question to bring them back into an agreement frame.

When using a yes only question you want to ensure you chunk up to a high level conceptual point, rather than trying to seek to gain agreement on a very specific detail about your product or service. This makes it easier for others to agree with you.

Politicians use this strategy all the time. When someone attempts to pin them down on an issue they immediately chunk up to a higher-level conceptual point that we can all agree on hence retaining agreement with their constituents.

Okay, so we agree that gaining a serious of small agreements places us in an agreement frame of mind, right?

So let us now look at your presentation and design a number of these yes only questions for you. There are three basic areas where these work extremely well.

1. Opening your presentation – It makes sense to have your prospect in an agreement frame of mind right from the beginning of your presentation.
   
   

2. Summary of prosects needs – Before proceeding to present your product or service as the solution to your prospect you should always summarise your prospects needs or issue. This is an excellent time to gain their agreement and have them saying yes.
   
   

3. Major benefits – As you progress through your presentation you will no doubt be demonstrating the major benefits to your prospect. After each one seek to ask a yes only question.

Simply by having a number of carefully planned yes only questions at these points through your presentation you will easily lead your prospect to the final yes.

Your challenge is to now sit down and design three yes only questions for each of these three points during your presentation.

Practise them until they are completely comfortable and you will find more prospects willing to do business with you. The result is more sales … which is what you want, right?