Tempo Management

This is evidently an inside phrase as used by football referees. It relates to the flow of the match.

In England, referees are renowned and praised for an observed focus to “keep the game flowing”.

When the on-pitch atmosphere gets a little spicy though, with tasty tackles and plenty of verbals, they are apparently encouraged to employ tempo management.

It is thought to lower the temperature and take the heat out of potential boiling situations. Most importantly, from a safety point of view it is considered to protect players from physical harm, whether it be from an outbreak of fisticuffs or a red-mist induced over the top career ending challenge.

It is achieved by the clandestine pausing of proceedings. Taking time over disciplining, awarding marginal fouls, talking to people before any re-start.

Tempo management is also an important undercurrent of a solution sales campaign.

If you start off all guns blazing, a million miles an hour, you’re unlikely to prevail. Bids that take more than one meeting and involve the buy-in of more than one person need to pay close attention to momentum.

Do you know all the steps typically required in your successful sales process? Do you know how to best manage them so that the flow builds and drops at just the right time for you (and the worst time for your competition)? What do you do to ensure your momentum is at its optimum at key stages in the buying process, like shortlisting, budget agreement, final presentations and of course, sign-off?