Harnessing Assumptions in Sales

The Purpose: To trigger a response/action when trying to book a meeting, hit a deadline or to get a timely response when you are not in front of your audience, not talking with them or not everyone has their calendar.

If “x”, then “y”.

Why is this approach important?

Countless hours, days and weeks are lost waiting for our audience to get back to us as we play endless amounts of tag. This decreases your momentum and slows down the sale as you “wait”.

How does it work?

The table below features a few scenarios of everyday situations, followed by the typical approach for handling that situation and then what I recommend instead using The Power of Assumption.

Situation	Typical Response	The Problem	The Power of Assumption Response
You are trying to book a meeting with your customer but they does not know their schedule.	“I will call you tomorrow to book our meeting”. OR “I will email you a few times and days that work for me next week. Just let me know.”	In this case you will be playing phone tag which will delay the entire process.	“I am available Tues at 2 PM. I will send you an Outlook invite for x date/time. If this does NOT work, let me know … otherwise I will assume this works”.
You finish a meeting, but the customer doesn’t know their schedule for the next step	“I will call you next week to book our upcoming appointment.”	You are now burdened with the chore of hunting them down which inevitably will delay the whole process.	“Let’s temporarily book our appt for next Wed at 4 PM. If you need to cancel, just email me.”
You need to move a meeting from Tues to Wed because of a scheduling conflict.	Email sent “John, I have a schedule conflict and would like to move our meeting from Tues to Wed –same time, please let me know if this is OK.”	You are left waiting and feel as though the meeting is unconfirmed until your customer gets back to you.	Email sent “John, I have a scheduling conflict and would like to move our meeting from Tues to Wed – same time. I will assume this works for you unless you notify me otherwise.”
You are at a trade show or networking event and secure a lead or follow up with.	“I will give you a call next week”. OR “I will email you tomorrow with some dates.”	Trying to call them randomly equates to a 90% chance of playing phone tag.	“When I get back to the office, I will send you a suggested date/time to have a prelim discussion. If that does not work, let me know … otherwise, I look forward to our meeting.”
You realize that you forgot to book a phone meeting to present your quote.	Email sent “John, I have your quote ready. Let’s organize time to review it together. Please email me with your availability for next week”.	You will play the waiting game here. You are adding unnecessary layers and steps to the process.	Email sent “John, I have your quote ready. Are you free next Tues at 3 pm to review it. If it does not, email me, otherwise I will assume we are on.”
You realize you have not spoken to your COI in a while OR You are tired of playing phone tag with them.	Email sent “John, when you are available next Thursday for us to talk about xyz?”.	You will play the waiting game here. You are adding unnecessary layers and steps to the process.	Email sent “John, it’s been too long since we chatted. Are you avail next Thurs at 3 pm. If not, let me know, otherwise talk then.”

Requirements When Using the “The Power of Assumption”

You must have some, even basic, relationship with the audience otherwise it will come across as aggressive.
Inform your customer ahead of time that you use this type of approach and why (which is to save both of you time, effort and endless phone/email tag).
If you are suggesting a date/time, choose one that is far enough in advance (at least a week) that the customer is more likely to be available.
Send a meeting invite via Outlook (or whatever calendaring tool you use).
Send an email meeting reminder 1-2 days prior just to jog their memory.

NOTE: If the customer emails you saying that they cannot make that meeting, immediately just choose another date/time (even if they say “I will email you next week/later with another date/time”).

NOTE: If after several attempts to use this technique (along with all the tips above) your audience consistently is not there for your meeting (especially phone meetings), you can either revert back to the traditional “chasing” method or you can ascertain that your audience is either not really that interested.