Upfront Contracts (July 2001 Issue Bonus: Minding Your Business Extra)

To save valuable hours from an already tight schedule, Rex Mann prequalifies clients before setting foot on their properties.

Scott Hunsberger

Published July 13, 2001

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following information is presented as an exclusive online supplement to the Minding Your Business: Quality Control department from the July 2001 issue of Lawn & Landscape magazine.]

MEDINA, Ohio - Because estimating can subtract valuable hours from an already tight schedule, Rex Mann, owner, RM Stonescaping, Medina, Ohio, prequalifies clients before setting foot on their properties by using an upfront contract (UFC).

A UFC is a tool that helps a salesperson and a prospective client agree to what will take place during a meeting. Mann uses the UFC process in initial phone conversations with prospective clients to weed out bargain shoppers. This is done by noting the specifics of a job and making the prospective client aware of the time investment the bidding and proposal process will take out of his or her schedule.

To make a UFC go smoothly, Mann developed the following script of items to tell prospective clients in the prequalification stage:

Upfront Contract Outline

  • The meeting will take an hour of your time.


  • All parties involved in the decision-making process need to be there.


  • Confirm the date and time of the meeting.


  • We will come up with a design and material selection for your project.


  • You need to bring any ideas you have.


  • I will bring my ideas and portfolios.


  • We will decide at the end of this meeting if we want to take the next step, which is our firm creating a proposal. However, if you don’t think we are fit, then we won’t take the next step.


  • Why do you want or need a product or service from my company?


  • What competition have you already contacted?

Mann came up with the idea to use UFCs from a publication by Sandler Systems Inc. that listed several keys of UFCs. That list is provided below:

The Elements And Terms Of An Upfront Contract

    DEFINITION OF A UFC: An Up-Front Contract (UFC) is a mechanism by which the salesperson and the prospect agree, before a meeting, to exactly what will take place during the meeting.

    SANDLER RULE: No mutual mystification.

    FIVE ELEMENTS OF A UFC:

    1. Purpose of the meeting:
      • Explain why you are having the meeting. The purpose should move the selling process forward.
    2. Prospect’s Agenda and Expectations:
      • Find out what the prospects agenda is fro the meeting.
      • Find out what his/her expectations are before and during the meeting.
    3. Salesperson’s Agenda and Expectations:
      • Explain to the prospect what you will be doing in the meeting.
      • Explain your expectations of the prospect, including what information you will need from him/her
      • Accept no wishy-washy responses.
    4. Time:
      • Schedule the date, time and location of the meeting.
      • Allow enough time to cover all necessary points.
    5. Outcome:
      • The outcome should be the decision to proceed with or stop the selling process, or the prospect’s final decision to buy or not to buy.
    6. Terms of a UFC:
      • Both you and the prospect must agree to the outcome for each stage of the contract.

    - Sandler Systems Inc.

The author is Internet Editor of Lawn & Landscape Online.

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