The Three Moments

February 3, 2022

Matt Church

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Published by Matt Church – Founder on 3 February 2022

If you can’t spot the moments, you miss the money.

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Staying aware of the opportunities as they arise is a key element to being a commercially successful thought leader. The Green Sheet process we teach at Thought Leaders in our Foundation program and then apply in our Business School is our core way of doing this. We use the Green Sheet process as a way of linking what you know with people who value it. We do this by shifting perspectives from deep expertise to deep empathy around the challenges your potential clients might face. The green sheet maps out in advance what is happening in a client’s world, what is your core value proposition that they will care the most about and finally it maps a journey from where they are to where they could be. The green sheet becomes your consideration prior to meetings, a script you can use during meetings, and the scaffold for agreements and proposals. The Green Sheet framework is powerful and has been shown to help clever people be commercially smart when selling what they know.

Once you have done the work of preparing a Green Sheet and applying it to your commercial conversations, you want to become more aware of the energetic moments within a commercial conversation. There are many such moments and they are not limited to the three outlined here but these three are the big ones.

Let’s define the first moment as ‘your’ moment, the second as ‘their’ moment and the third as ‘the’ moment. High level, when you are having your moment you want to ‘Show Up’, when they are having theirs you want to ‘Shut Up’ and when you experience ‘The’ collective moment when the deal is happening you want to ‘Step Up’.

Let’s go a little deeper…

The process of sales makes it seem like the decision to buy happens over time. At one level, this is true but it’s really just a series of little moments. Moments that matter, moments that we sometimes ignore or miss altogether. Our memory being unreliable, we then in hindsight patch together some story of the drawn-out process it took to get the sale. The reality for a Thought Leader is that it takes almost no time for someone to actually buy something of yours. So yes, sales is a process but the decision to work together happens instantly in these rare moments.

But are you conscious of those moments, ready for them, and tuned in for the subtle signals that you are in the moment in time when your idea is being sold or bought? Are you busy talking over the moment, running some predetermined script or dialogue without any clue that the moment has possibly passed? Are you selling so hard you end up buying it back?

If you can’t spot the moments, you miss the money.

The three moments that matter.

The first moment is your moment. (You)
We are presenting this moment as the first moment, but it doesn’t always come first in the sales process. That said, this is the moment where you get really clear that what you have is of value, that the work is something you would like to do, and the client is someone you want to do it with. Don’t forget to have your moment. It often helps to go into meetings knowing that you get to select your clients. It’s not a one-way street. If you are committing to the committed then there is the moment you realise you want to do the piece of work.
The second moment is their moment (Them)

If you watch for it, there is a moment when the client decides that they want to work with you and they commit. In-person, this is often signalled by a smile, a head nod, or in most cases a punctuated word like ‘OK’, expressed almost as an out-breath, a relief. When this moment occurs or looks like it might, stop talking and just sit with the moment. Don’t rush to fill that space. Smile, nod, wait, and be present.
The third moment is the shared moment (Us)
The third moment is when both parties go from the individual decision to work together to a collective, “Yes, let’s do this.” This might be when you sign the paperwork or walk through the plan of next steps, or shake hands, often it’s before that. The individual decisions that sit behind the first two moments are upgraded into a collective commitment at this third moment.

Stay aware during commercial conversations, the moments are magical, the energetic exchange is special. It’s a privilege to do the work we do and it’s something enchanting, cherished and dare I say sacred when you watch, allow, and sit with another in service, fully self-expressed. Do this intentionally and you will be rewarded for your work.

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