Do not start looking for acronyms 1 through 11 here on ActiveRain just yet. This is acronym #11 from my staff sales meetings in 2006. It just ocurred to me today that a wider audience may also benefit from or add to the power of acronyms and power phrases we use regularly around my office. So please do so! I love hearing from you fellow Rainers.

What makes acronyms so powerful is that, when they are accurate and not just cute, they help you remember a process or a pattern which has led others or yourself to previous success. Power phrases we find are more for getting yourself excited or getting your prospects on board where the acronyms we use are generally for remembering processes.

Acronyms That Work #11 is certainly no acception but it is not a true acronym in the sense that it does not use a word broken down into individual words using each letter of the acronym as the initial letter of the words in the list. Not exactly, that is, but in a method it does play off on 4D.

4D should be better than 3D, right? They tell us now that we no longer live in a 3D world but rather a multi-dimensional plane of existence. All of that really doesn't matter unless you depend on one of the "unknown" dimensions to function. Perhaps the ActiveRain dimension?

Ken, you're babbling, get on with the show!

THE FOUR-D METHOD

Discuss - have an open dialogue with your prospect. Ask questions that lead to the answers you need to know. Be prepared to listen but avoid questions which require an essay to answer. MAKE NOTES! I use an Olympus digital recorder and I say, "Instead of bothering you with my slow note taking, do you mind if I record what we say so I can transpose it later? I don't want to miss anything important."

Determine - after having listened to your prospect determine what you will recommend to them. If you are a loan officer you should have a good idea of which lenders and which programs you are going to recommend to the prospect. If you are an agent you will likely need to do your homework before you get back to your prospect with choices.

Decide - let your client decide which direction they want to go based on the information you have given them as a result of the first two steps. If they cannot make a decision they may just need more time or you may have to revisit step one and maybe even step two.

Deliver - now that you and your prospect have discussed their needs, you have determined which solutions to offer and they have decided on which way to go it is your time to really step up to the plate. If you have successfully completed the first three steps then it should be simple to deliver the service to your prospect who is now your client.