End sales calls with a clear next step.
Four steps to agree what happens next, who owns it, and when.
Dan Cubr, a Sandler trainer at EAM Consulting Group, helps sellers prepare for discovery conversations. Paul Doucet runs a Sandler training center in Toronto. Their advice addresses a gap that’s easy to miss: you’ve booked another meeting, but you still don’t know whether the buyer has a useful reason to attend.
In this guide, we draw on our interviews with these two sales pros to show you how to finish a call with a shared plan. Four practical steps cover what the next conversation should accomplish, what might get in the way, and how to agree who will do what before you meet again.
Read on, then put their advice to work with the accompanying worksheet. You’ll leave with an agreed action, an owner, and a time to reconnect, or a clear answer that lets you both move on.
Give the conversation somewhere to go.
Dan prepares questions before a call, then asks what the buyer wants to cover. By the end, you might have a reason to explore further, or you might find there isn’t a fit. As Dan puts it:
“And either one of those answers is okay.”
Continue
Name the useful question you’ll explore together.
Reconnect later
Agree a trigger and date: “After the budget review, shall we speak on [date]?”
Stop
Confirm the no: “It sounds like this isn’t a fit. Shall we leave it here?”
Make room for an honest answer. A reminder you set for yourself is not yet a shared next step. Ask, then record what the buyer agrees to.
Getting ready takes time. Topsail ONE prepares contacts and company context around your chosen market. You bring the questions and have the conversation.
Give the next meeting a job.
Paul wants a first call to establish a reason for a fuller conversation. Before reaching for the calendar, name what you’d work through together. For a founder selling an operations service:
Turn interest into a working session
Illustrative dialogue, written for this guide:
- The problem
- Buyer: “When schedules change, customer follow-ups get missed. I’m not sure where it breaks.”
- The invitation
- Seller: “Would it help to spend 20 minutes walking through a recent example, so we can see where the handoff slips?”
- The agreement
- Buyer: “Yes. I can bring an example Thursday at 10.” Seller: “Great. I’ll send the invite today with that as our agenda.”
The buyer owns the example; the seller owns the invite. Purpose and time are agreed. Fit is still unconfirmed.
Fictional dialogue applying the interviews, not a customer result.
Don’t rush past the yes.
Paul cautions against getting a yes and hurrying off the phone. An accepted invitation can still hide a scheduling problem or a polite brush-off. Before you finish, give the buyer a chance to tell you.
Paul suggests asking:
“Is there anything that could happen between now and then that would mean that you wouldn’t be able to make it?”
Suppose the buyer in the operations example has a deadline Thursday. You check calendars together and agree Friday at 10 instead. If a needed colleague’s availability is still unknown, keep the time pending and agree who will confirm it, by when.
If they’re unsure the meeting would help, revisit the purpose and give them room to say no. An unconfirmed plan stays unconfirmed.
Write down what you actually learned.
Dan checks his call against the questions he prepared. What got answered? What’s still missing? Another meeting doesn’t fill those gaps.
Say the agreement back before you hang up, then send a short recap. Keep unanswered questions separate from what the buyer confirmed.
For the example: “Friday at 10, for 20 minutes. You’ll bring one missed follow-up; I’ll send the invite today. We’ll trace the handoff and see whether we can help. Does that match what you have in mind?”
Is the next step clear?
Check the agreement before you move on.
Start with the first unchecked item.
One-page, fillable PDF · No email required
A clear no counts, too. For the people you’re still working, Topsail ONE keeps outreach and follow-up organized around your playbook. You keep the agreement clear and do what you promised.
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