12 Great Selling Skills
Chapter 10: Closing the Offering
Success means having the courage,
determination,
and determination
to be who you believe you are to be. – George Sheehan
What you are selling
or what sales tool you use,
your ability to get potential customers
to make a solid decision
to buy the product/service you’re offering
will play a central role in your success and your work.
All of the best salespeople are exceptional
at bringing sales-oriented conversation
to a successful conclusion.
Luckily, closing the sale is a skill you can develop,
just like riding a bicycle.
It’s simply learning to use the right words
and ask the right questions,
at the right time in the pitch.
When you know how
to close the offering easily and well,
at the right time,
and in the right way,
you’ll be able to take full control of your career
or your business in the future.
Many years ago,
at the beginning of my sales career
—walking from office to office making sales calls
—I faced countless potential customers
with perpetual resistance.
I made dozens of phone calls
without completing a single transaction.
Sometimes I work from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.,
phone a lot of potential clients after work,
run from house to house
and often get nothing done,
a single transaction throughout the week.
The product that
I offer is not expensive at all
and the product itself can pay for itself
after just one use.
My pitch is simple and open.
I am always positive
and full of enthusiasm.
Customers can easily buy my product
without thinking,
and, I can’t make a sale.
Of course, like so many other salespeople,
I blame the product,
the company,
the price, the market,
the competition,
the economy,
and any other factor with anything else
I can think of,
for contributing to my business failures.
“Ninety percent of selling is conviction
and 10 percent is persuasion.” – Shiv Khera
**************
Do not call for orders
At the end of my passionate pitch,
I’ll say something like,
“I’m done pitching my product/service.
What do you think about it?”
My potential clients always respond,
“Yes, let me think about it.
Why don’t you call me next week (or next month)?”
I will politely thank the prospect
and leave,
going to my next prospect.
Of course, I try to call them back again,
but they are always “in meeting”
or “on business.”
I never got a chance
to meet one of my potential customers a second time,
and there were no sales pitches
that helped me sell any of my products/services.
I fell into a state of extreme depression.
I also learned that
“Let me think about it”
or “I want to think about it a bit more”
that a client tells me is a goodbye.
What customers actually say to me is,
“You failed to place an order.
I will never think about you
or your offer again.
Since you walked out of my office,
we’ll never see each other again.”
There is a song by Steve Wonder called:
“Fingertips,
Part 2”, when accompanied by piano and harmonica,
he excitedly sings:
“Goodbye, goodbye,
goodbye, goodbye,
goodbye, bye, bye!”
Whenever a customer says,
“Let me think about it”
you are probably hearing the lyrics of
that song right behind your back.
You must have heard the words Goodbye!
Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye!
filled the room.
“For every sale you miss
because you’re too enthusiastic,
you will miss a hundred
because you’re not enthusiastic enough.” – Zig Ziglar
***************
Learn how to close an offer
Then I also discovered a truth.
The reason I can’t sell is because of me,
not because of any other factor.
More specifically,
I realized that it was my inability
to call orders,
close sales,
that made my work ineffective and unsuccessful.
The next day,
I stumbled across an explanation of closing sales
and specific closing tools in a business book.
It seemed like a perfect fit
for my situation at the time,
when I was selling a fairly simple product.
It says that at the end of every sales conversation,
the customer knows everything
they can about your product.
They do not need any more information,
nor do they need to think more
to make a purchase decision one way or another.
Like a soldier coming
to the front of an enemy’s gun,
from then on,
I was determined to force my sales talks
to come to an end,
one way or another.
“For me, life is continuously being hungry.
The meaning of life is not simply to exist,
to survive,
but to move ahead, to go up,
to achieve,
to conquer.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger
*************
In the first meeting since
Then, the next morning,
after I gave my presentation,
the prospect said,
“Oh, let me think about it.
Why didn’t you call me back?”
I replied, firmly and confidently:
“I won’t call you back.”
I still remember the prospect’s surprised expression
when he heard my statement.
“What do you mean?
Won’t you call me back?”
I replied,
“Sir Potential, it’s not a big decision at all.
Right at this point,
he knew everything he needed
to know to make a buying decision one way
or another.
There’s nothing left to think about.
There’s no reason for me to call you back,
because I’ve already told you everything
that needs to be said.
Why don’t you buy it?”
He looked at me for a few seconds,
then said,
“Okay, if you don’t call me back
I can buy it right now.”
He pulled out his checkbook,
wrote a check,
and handed it over to me.
The transaction is complete.
“There is no greater thing you can do
with your life
and your work than follow your passions,
in a way that serves the world and you.” — Richard Branson
****************
My eyes have been opened
I walked out of the client’s office a little stunned.
I can not believe it.
All the days gone by,
the days where I went from door to door,
making one offer after another,
and failing to complete a single transaction,
simply It was
because I didn’t have the courage
and ability to call for orders.
I immediately went to the prospect in the nearby office,
executed the exact same pitch,
gave the exact same responses
when the prospect said,
“Why didn’t you call me back,”
and complete another transaction.
Then I completed the third transaction,
all within 45 minutes.
In the past,
I completed one or two trades a week,
and now I complete three in less than an hour.
From that day on,
I switched to selling machines.
I went from door to door,
from office to office,
from prospect to prospect.
My sales skyrocketed.
My daily sales are higher
than the weekly sales of half of the sales force.
I switched from old clothes
to luxurious new clothes.
I moved from a hostel
to a comfortable apartment.
I switched from taking the bus
to work every day to driving my own car.
Within a month,
they appointed me as a sales manager
and asked me to teach everyone what
I did to be able to close so many deals.
What I mean is that the right closing tool
for you at this time could change your sales career.
Not long ago,
a veteran salesman called me a month after attending
one of my sales seminars
and told me he had doubled his income in three times
in just 30 days with a closing tool.
This breakthrough came after he had been selling his product
for 13 years.
With this new closing tool,
one that perfectly suited him
and his market,
he tripled his sales.
He taught this method to everyone in his office,
and they all doubled their sales the next month.
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap
but by the seeds that you plant.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
****************
Why is the ending difficult?
Closing the sale is the most stressful part
of a sales conversation
for both the seller and the customer.
All customers have had negative buying experiences.
They bought something
and then realized they paid too much,
that they could get a similar
or even better product
for the same
or less price.
They bought the wrong product
that didn’t do what they expected it to do,
and they ended up having
to replace it with another product.
After they bought it,
they realized they could buy it cheaper
from another seller.
The product is broken
and they can’t fix it.
They buy something they think it’s really a good idea
and find out soon after,
that it’s just a second-rate product.
Everyone has some degree of fear of failure.
Because customers have made
a lot of mistakes in their purchase,
there is an automatic fear of failure in them,
and this fear arises whenever they are approached
by a new salesperson
or a word of advice,
new offers, of any kind.
Debt failure accounts for 80%
of the reason customers refuse
to make a purchase decision.
On the other hand,
fear of rejection accounts for 80% of the reasons
why salespeople don’t call for orders.
Most people care a lot about the opinions
and feelings of others.
This makes society civilized.
But in sales, becoming so concerned
with whether the prospect will like you
or admit you doesn’t make it difficult for salespeople
to get people to buy their products.
50% of conversations aimed at sales end
without a call to action
placing a sales order of any kind,
not even an offer to schedule another appointment
to continue the sales process.
Conversations aimed at selling often simply end
with a sentence:
“Thanks for coming”
or “Thanks for taking the time for me,”
and then the salesperson leaves.
Go, never have the opportunity
to see that potential customer again.
“Without passion, you don’t have energy.
Without energy, you have nothing.” — Warren Buffet
*************
New sales model
In chapter 4, we presented a new sales model.
This model gives you a blueprint
for de-stressing the end of a conversation
with both the salesperson and the customer.
This helps shift the focus
in a sales conversation
from asking the customer
to make a decision
to focusing on how you can help that
customer improve his or her life
or business with what you’re selling.
Building trust accounts
for 40% of sales-driven conversations.
You build trust by taking the time to ask questions
and to carefully
and thoroughly predetermine customer needs.
The more questions you ask about
your customer’s needs and wants,
and real concerns,
and then listen attentively to the answers,
the more trust you build in the customer’s mind will be larger.
In the customer’s mind,
trust in the salesperson
and feelings of stress
or fear are inversely related.
The more customers trust and trust you,
the less fear,
doubt or anxiety they will have
when buying your product/service.
When the customer’s trust
and confidence in you has reached its peak,
the fear of buying your product/service
will disappear completely.
In your sales pitch,
instead of trying to convince customers
to buy your product,
connect the benefits they can get
from buying your product
with a real need.
You indicate that based on what the customer has to say
(no one will argue with their own information) your product/service
is an ideal solution to the customer’s problem
or the best way to satisfy customer needs in this field.
By carefully identifying the customer’s needs,
and then by satisfying those needs in your sales conversation,
the customer will conclude
for themselves that the product/service
Yours is the best choice.
If you have built trust by identifying needs
and recommending your product
as the best choice based on those needs,
then the conclusion and confirmation
– the final 10% of the transaction
– will become a lot easier.
“Prospecting,
find the man with the problem.” — Benjamin Friedman
**************
Conditions to be satisfied
There are four conditions
that need to be met in the demand determination
and presentation
before you can obtain the right
to place an order:
Customers must need what you are selling.
Your product/service will actually solve a problem
or satisfy a need.
Both you and the customer must understand the need.
Customers can use your product.
You want customers to be able
to enjoy the maximum value of the product/service you provide.
You wouldn’t be trying
to sell an expensive computer
or complicated software
to the owner of a small business
who couldn’t make full use of the complicated computer
or software.
Customers have enough money to buy it.
Customers have enough money
to buy the product/service you offer
without suffering at all.
The value that customers will enjoy
from using your product / service needs
to be more than the money they spend to buy it.
Customers must really want your product/service.
Before you can ask a customer
to make a purchase,
the customer must clearly state what they want.
If you try to close the deal
before the customer gives you a clear indication
that he wants to buy what you are offering,
you will often kill the deal,
sometimes at the last minute.
How do you know that the customer needs
what you’re selling,
has enough money to buy it,
and actually wants to buy it?
Just simple.
Customers will say something very clearly
– “It looks great. How do I get it now?”
or: “What is the next step?”
or show you a very clear signal to buy,
such as leaning in,
becoming more active and vibrant,
picking up your sales brochure,
or nodding and smiling at what you’re doing.
If the prospect doesn’t show you a clear buy signal,
there are two confirmation questions
you can ask to find out
for sure if the customer
is ready for you to close the sale.
First, you might ask,
“Do you have any other questions or concerns that
I haven’t mentioned?”
If the customer says “no,”
it means that the customer has come
to a conclusion whether to buy
or not to buy your product/service.
With the answer “no” to this question,
it is very possible
Let the customer want to tell you:
“Yes, I am ready to buy your product/service.”
Second, you can ask:
“Does the product/service
I am offering make sense to you up to this point?”
In this case, if the customer says “yes,”
it means he is ready to buy your product/service.
“The key is not to call the decision-maker.
The key is to have the decision maker call you.” — Jeffrey Gitomer
*************
Offer closing tool
Hundreds of different ways
to close an offering have been identified over the decades.
Up to 90% of them are the following seven basic tools:
End with an invitation
End with precedence
End with instructions
End by empowering
End with minor issues
Ends with objections
End with: “Let me think about it”
“Start working with your prospects
as if they’ve already hired you.” — Jill Konrath
***************
ENDS WITH AN INVITATION
This is a simple and effective ending.
At the end of a sales conversation,
you ask:
“Does the product/service
I offer mean anything to you?”
When the customer says,
“Yes, it looks good,”
you respond by saying,
“Great, so why don’t you try it?”
This question actually consists of two sub-questions.
The first part (Why wouldn’t you…)
gives the prospect an opportunity
to ask more questions
or express additional concerns
he may have before making a decision.
The second part of this conclusion
(…try it out) invites the customer
to act and at the same time hints
that it’s not a big deal.
After all,
“I am, simply, trying it out.”
Even though “try it out” means
that the customer is actually committed
to buying and paying
for your product/service,
this question lightens the decision,
reduces stress,
and make it easier
for the other person to say “yes”.
If you’re selling a service of some kind,
you might ask,
“If you like what I’ve just introduced to you,
why don’t you give our service a try?”
When you say “we,”
you mean your entire company
or organization will come together
to serve this customer
and support the customer’s service-related needs.
Or you can ask questions like,
“If you like it,
why don’t you buy it?”
or: “If you like it,
why don’t you use it?”
Inviting customers to make a purchase
is a simple yet powerful way
to close the sale.
My friend has a successful real estate agent (he is now retired).
He told me that the day after attending my sales seminar,
he took a couple to see a home.
When they got out of the house
and into the car,
he turned to look at them and asked,
“Do you like the house?”
The couple looked at each other
and then at him
and said it looked like a nice house.
Then he responded cheerfully:
“Then why don’t you buy it?”
The couple looked a bit surprised.
Apparently no one had ever offered them a house before.
They looked at each other and then at him again,
and said,
“Oh, right, why not?”
My friend wrote the sales slip right
in front of the house.
He started asking this question
to all potential customers.
His sales increased by 32% the very next month
and continued to grow after that.
Within a few years, he had enough money
to retire as one of the highest-paid salespeople in that industry.
The hardest part about learning a closing tool
is getting the courage
to try saying this
to the customer you’re pitching to.
You have to muster up your courage and say this,
just once.
You can then say this sentence over and over again,
whenever it’s appropriate.
So, why don’t you give it a try?
“Approach each customer with the idea of helping him
or her solve a problem
or achieve a goal,
not of selling a product or service.” — Brian Tracy
********************
ENDS WITH PRIORITY
With this closing tool,
you give the customer more than one option.
For example, you ask,
“Which of these two do you prefer?”
This tool is sometimes referred to as the “end of choice”
because you give the customer the opportunity
to choose from different solutions.
Everyone likes to be selected.
People don’t like single endings,
when they either buy
or don’t buy a single thing.
When you ask:
“Which one do you prefer,
A or B?” Customers will expect to be able to choose
between two things,
instead of saying,
“Okay, let me think about that.”
If you only have one product for sale,
you can use the right-of-way ending regarding price,
term,
or delivery.
You can ask if the customer wants
to pay the full cost right away
or pay monthly.
You can ask if the customer wants
to pay by cash
or by credit card.
“Do you want to bring it home yourself
or wait for us to deliver it to you?”
Whichever answer they answer
with these options,
they’ve made a purchase decision
and you’ve closed the offer.
“Treat objections as requests for further information.” — Brian Tracy
****************
ENDS WITH THE INSTRUCTIONS
This is one of the best closing tools discovered to date.
Your chances of success
when using this tool will be up
to 70% if it is a real potential customer.
The top 10% of the most successful salespeople in their field
use this tool more than any other closing tool,
especially for complex deals where the product/service offered
for sale involves a series of different factors,
nd the sales relationship develops well
after the transaction is completed.
You ask the customer:
“Does this product/service mean anything to you?”
If your prospect says things like,
“Oh, that looks good,”
then you can close the sale by saying,
“So, the next step would be…”
and then describe it,
detailed action plan and purchasing process
as well as the steps to be able
to own the product/service.
For example:
“Then the next step is
I need you to sign these two forms,
a check for $1,145 from you
and the shipping address.
I will bring this information back to my office
and transfer it into the system,
and the product will be delivered to you
by Thursday afternoon,
along with a clear explanation of our warranty.
How do you feel?”
At the end of the tutorial,
you are “defaulting to a transaction”.
You are acting as if the customer has agreed
to buy your product/service,
even though the customer has never said “yes” to anything.
This tool is sometimes referred to
as the “make it sold” ending,
because you talk as if the customer had said,
“Okay, I’ll buy it, what do I do next?”
Using ends with guidance requires confidence,
assertiveness and frankness.
Once you’ve used it a couple of times,
you’ll find yourself using it again and again,
and often with great success.
“The story is the heart of the sale.” — Matthew Pollard
***************
ENDS WITH WOMEN’S EMPLOYMENT
Closing by empowering is also a powerful tool.
It can be used at the end of an offer
by asking the prospect a question like,
“Do you have any other questions or concerns
that I haven’t mentioned?”
If the prospect says no,
as you know,
it means yes.
You can then pull out an order
or contract and fill it out,
asking the prospect for the necessary details.
Finally,
all you have to do is pick it up
and say these magical words:
“If you will, we can start right now.”
You use the word “allow”
instead of the word “sign”
because people often like to be “allowed”
but hesitate to sign.
If you ask the other person
to sign a document,
they may hesitate
and ask you to give them more time
to review the sales contract in more detail
and “think it over.”
End with a final conclusion.
Another version of the empowering ending,
you use this tool
when you’ve been going back and forth
with a prospect for a long time
and the prospect still hasn’t replied to you.
Potential customers always seem
to want more information
or more time to keep thinking about it.
In a way, customers are draining your time and energy.
Now, you’ve invested too much time in this lead
and you don’t want to “lose your capital”,
but at the same time,
the customer keeps you
from reaching other potential customers,
customers can be much more potential
than current customers.
When you decide to come
to a final conclusion,
you call the prospect and tell him
that you have some more information
that he must be very interested in.
You say you have something to show him
and want to talk to him for a few minutes.
When you see this customer again,
you already have a very complete
and detailed order in hand.
You sit down and make polite remarks
and then say,
“Sir Potential,
I’ve been paying close attention to this.
And whether it is a good idea for you or not,
please decide today whether we can proceed or not.”
Then you take out a completed contract
and put it on the table.
You say,
“I have completed this order exactly as we discussed,
and if you will allow,
we can start now.”
Then you put a marker
where you want the customer
to “allow”, smile,
and sit still.
The rule is that whoever speaks first
as soon as the question of the ending
is raised is the loser.
When you put the contract on the table,
the prospect will realize
that this is the last time you “see” him.
Whether a customer decides to buy or not,
one way or another,
this is “time of choice.”
In about 60% of the time,
the prospect will look at you,
at the contract set,
then back at you,
look again at the contract set,
and finally say,
“Okay, that’s a good idea.
Let’s move on,”
then sign the contract,
and you’ll be done with the transaction.
In about 40% of cases,
the end customer will say,
“No!
Sir, I don’t think it’s a good idea
for us at the moment,
but thank you very much for the effort.”
In any case, you are free.
You’ve ended up going back
and forth in the never-ending sales process
and now you can go and meet someone new
and make a new deal.
You should use this closing tool
– this “sudden termination”
– regularly to free up the time
and energy
to develop a new business.
Otherwise, you could end up bogged down
with indecisive leads
who will never give you an answer one way or another.
“Every sale has five basic obstacles:
no need,
no money,
no hurry,
no desire,
no trust.” — Zig Ziglar
****************
ENDS WITH SECOND PROBLEMS
Making a purchase decision of any kind
can be stressful for customers,
and especially when a purchase decision costs them too much.
To reduce the amount of stress
that comes with making a purchase decision,
end with minor issues.
Your ending will focus on a minor issue
of the product/service,
accepting that issue means deciding
to buy the entire product.
For example,
if you are selling an expensive car,
you use the secondary closing tool by saying:
If you bought this car today,
would you rather use the manufacturer’s tires
or install Michelin tires?”
If the prospect says,
“Oh, I want Michelin tires,”
he has already decided to buy the car.
If you’re selling software,
you can say,
“Do you want us to install this for you,
or will your IT staff do it themselves?”
If the customer replies,
“We want your company
to install the software,”
or “Our IT team can install the software ourselves,”
you have completed the transaction.
You can then continue by saying,
“Okay then, the next step is
I need your confirmation (or permission),
and then we can get going.”
There are two factors that drive desire
to buy at the end of sales-oriented conversations.
The first factor is your willingness
to deal with all the details
of completing the transaction,
processing the order,
and delivering the product/service.
The number of people who hesitate
to buy a complicated product/service
for fear of spending too much time on the buying process
is unbelievable.
They are already overwhelmed
by having too much to do
and too little time to deal with it.
So always offer to “handle all the details” for the client.
For example, you could say,
“As long as you sign the last two pages,
I’ll take care of all the details.
I can fill out all the information on this form
from our previous document
and if I need to provide more information
I will contact your accountant.”
A second way to increase the desire
to buy at the end of a sales conversation
is to ask to get started.
Whenever you say “now”, their desire to buy increases.
Their desire to make a purchase
therefore increases accordingly.
They start thinking about the value,
benefits
and pleasure they will get from your product
and are ready to buy.
In some cases, you will not be able
to process your order
and ship it immediately.
But there is a perfect truth
that “we can start now!”
This is a great incentive for customers
to make an immediate purchase decision.
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” — Mark Twain
*****************
ENDS WITH REASONS OF AGAINST
The prospect might say,
“I love your product/service,
but we can’t make $500 to pay for it every month.”
Then you can use the ending
with the objection.
You say, “If we could extend the payment period
by a year and reduce your payments
to less than $400 a year,
would you buy it?”
This tool is sometimes called a “hypothetical ending”
because you use the words can and will.
Both of these words represent your commitment.
Both words make the last act an open opportunity.
Such as:
Customer: We like your product,
but we will need it on Friday
and it will take you up to a month
to process the order.
You: If you could have it on Friday,
would you buy it?
No matter what objection the customer gives
at the close of the sale,
you always respond by saying,
“If we could (answer the customer’s concern),
Will you buy it?”
This forces the customer to say,
“Okay. If you could do it for me,
I would make a purchase decision today.”
Sometimes the customer will say,
“Okay.
But we can’t do that for another reason.”
In this case, you use the same answer
as before again.
You say, “If we could handle that other reason
to your complete satisfaction,
would you buy it?”
When the customer finally says,
“Okay, if you can do it for me,
I’ll buy it,” you can say,
“Let me see what we can do.”
“It has been my observation that most people get ahead
during the time that others waste.” — Henry Ford
*************
At this point, the customer
committed to buy your product/service,
but you have not committed
to meet his final request.
In other words,
the customer has “bitten the hook”
and you have not.
Now you can go back to your office,
look into the matter,
and confirm with the client
if you can accommodate his request.
Reason for objection or condition.
No transaction will be made
without objection.
(In fact, the previous chapter was devoted to this topic.)
The existence of just one objection in the customer’s mind
can derail a transaction.
And here’s a very interesting discovery:
When potential customers give an objection,
they see it as a real reason not to buy.
But they don’t understand
that you have to deal with so many objections,
and that you are quite flexible in the care of your customers,
they think their objection means
that they can’t move forward,
even though they probably really want
what you’re selling.
That is why it is so important
to make a clear distinction
between objections and conditions.
The reason for objection
is simply a concern in the customer’s mind
that makes them hesitate to make a purchase decision.
The condition is the real reason
why the transaction cannot be executed.
Customers may say they don’t have enough money
to buy your product/service,
but often that’s because they don’t realize
that you have a complete financial plan,
including terms for acceptance in current product/service
as an exchange and extend the payment period
for two or three years.
But when the prospect says,
“I can’t buy it,”
because her company has gone bankrupt
or is in a serious financial crisis
and can’t afford to spend any more money,
or any amount for whatever reason
this is a real condition that prevents
you from getting an order from the customer,
at least for now.
“Setting goals is the first step
in turning the invisible into the visible.” — Tony Robbins
****************
ENDS WITH “LET LETS ME THINK MORE”
Throughout your sales career,
no matter how interesting the product/service you sell
or how professional your pitch is,
customers will try
to avoid stress arising from making purchasing decisions.
One of the sayings that you hear most often is:
“Let me think about it.
Let me think about this.”
If you have understood the customer enough
to understand their situation and needs,
and understand that the customer can enjoy the benefits
of the product/service
you are offering at a reasonable cost,
and the sale has come to an end,
there is a 50% chance that the customer
will buy the product today if you keep selling.
In the remaining 50%
(And this is about the arbitrary percentage),
the customer will not buy your product/service for reasons
that have nothing to do with you.
When customers say,
“Let me think about it,”
they are often feeling stressed.
So don’t argue.
Simply smile,
pause,
and relax by saying,
“That’s a good idea.
This is an important decision.”
You can even start putting your sales documents aside
and re-binding them.
After that, the customer will no longer feel pressured
to make a purchase decision.
When the client is relaxed and smiling,
you can continue:
“Obviously you have a good enough reason
to want to think about it further.
Do you mind if I ask what the reason is?
Is it a matter of price?”
One is forced to answer when asked a question.
You have now given the customer a choice of
why he says he needs to think about it further.
“Is it a matter of price?”
If price is an issue, then, fortunately,
you’ve got a whole set of tools
to deal with price objections.
You can say:
• What do you mean?
• What exactly do you mean?
• Why do you say that?
• Why do you feel that way?
• Is price your only concern?
• You clearly have a good enough reason
to consider the price issue.
Would you mind if I asked what the reason was?
In other words,
if the prospect says price is the ultimate objection,
you have several ways
to handle this objection,
giving a good enough reason
to set the price aside,
and continue your sales process.
But what if the customer says,
“No, it’s not the price that matters”?
In this case, you ask,
“If the problem isn’t the price, then what is it?”
In any conversation, a “May I ask?”
It’s a very difficult question not to answer.
Whenever someone says,
“May I ask you a question?”
you will almost certainly answer “yes.”
When you ask and the customer responds,
you stop, carefully consider the customer’s feedback,
and realize that you are on the verge of closing a deal
or losing a sale.
This is the objection or
final condition.
Use all of your previous listening skills
to make sure the client is comfortable
and you’re still in control.
After pausing for a moment,
you end up with an objection and ask:
“If we could solve that problem to your satisfaction,
would you be willing to buy from us? ?”
If the prospect says,
“Okay, if you can solve that last problem,
we’ll be ready to buy from you,”
you can respond with these key words:
What do we need to do to make you satisfied?”
Then wait quietly for an answer.
The only pressure you are allowed
to use in a sales conversation,
as an expert,
is the pressure of silence,
which you use after asking an important,
special question is a closing question.
At this point,
the customer will often say,
“Oh, if you can do this and this,
we’ll be ready to take your order.”
Then assure the customer,
if possible,
that you will do exactly what he asked
and close the sale.
“Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman,
not the attitude of the prospect.” — William Clement Stone
***************
Never give up
The most important word at the end
of an offer is the word “ask”.
Ask customers
if they have made a purchase decision.
Ask the client
if you can move on to the next stage of the deal
or meeting for the next sale.
Ask confidently.
Ask in a positive way.
Ask politely.
Ask courageously.
Ask in a professional manner.
Feel free to ask.
Ask hopefully.
But don’t be afraid to ask.
At least you can ask,
“What do you want to do now?”
This question by itself often leads
to a buying decision.
One of my seminar attendees told me
that he increased his sales
and income by 500% in 12 months
with a very simple tool.
No matter what the customer says,
positive or negative,
he will always end by saying,
“Why don’t you buy it?”
His client might respond with,
“I don’t want it, I don’t need it,
I can’t use it, I can’t afford it,”
or some other objection.
Then he would respond,
positive and hopeful,
by saying, “Look at this.
This is a good product at a good price.
You can really get a lot of benefits from using it.
Why don’t you buy it?”
He was surprised to see the change in reluctant
and negative potential customers
who agreed to buy his products/services
when he asked them one last time:
“Why don’t you? try to buy it?”
“When a team takes ownership of its problem,
problems get solved.” — Jocko Willink
**************
Courage is the key
The most important quality in developing closing skills is courage.
You develop courage through practice.
Courage is the key to business success.
Take advantage of the “single use presentation”.
Whenever you talk to a potential customer
who clearly has no interest in what you’re offering,
you can either view the meeting
as a waste of your time
or decide to use a one-time presentation with that prospect.
You take this opportunity
to practice all of your selling and closing tools.
Use each tool one by one to discover
and respond to objections.
Ask the opposite person
to place your order in any way possible.
You have nothing to lose,
and you might even be surprised.
A completely uninterested
and extremely negative customer can often turn around
and become a real customer
if you insist on practicing all of the selling
and marketing tools.
Close your offer when you know for sure that
you have no chance of making a sale to this customer.
“Allow other people to speak first;
the important factor is not who talks…
it’s who listens.” – Ilana Eberson
******************
Practice, practice and practice
You can only learn these sales tools,
including closing tools,
by practicing them in direct contact
with a potential customer
who has the right to buy
or not buy your product/service.
You can play different roles yourself at the office
or practice with your family,
but the only way you really learn this skill regularly is
by using it in front of a real potential client in power.
The great thing about selling is
that you can’t make things worse by selling.
And all sales skills can be learned.
The harder you practice those skills
– especially the difficult and stressful ones
– the skill of getting potential customers to place an order
– the more courageous,
positive,
self-assured you will become
and trust and sell more products than that.
So why don’t you give it a try?
There is a good point during the objection process,
when closing the offering becomes easier.
At a particular point,
your prospect will start to come up with objections
and you will have to deal
with them one by one.
At the end of this section,
your prospect will begin to have no reason to object.
Notice the longer pauses
between the moment you close one of your answers
and the moment the prospect starts making another objection.
Wait until you have answered the last question,
and there is a long pause,
then move on to closing the sale.
The best closing tool to use at this point
is “close with an order.”
Do something impactful,
such as filling out an order,
or ask a question about a detail like quantity,
delivery method,
or pick-up time.
When there are no strong objections left in mind,
the prospect will often stop resisting
and help you fulfill the order.
I like to imagine the objections section of the sales process
like an old-fashioned battle
in which warriors wield swords against their enemies.
The two of you will begin with full energy,
affirm your objections,
and answer confidently.
But by the end of the war,
your prospect will be exhausted.
You will force him,
for the first time throughout the offering process,
to be hacked.
This means, all your energy has been spent on a defensive stance,
merely fighting his objections (offensive).
Be patient and your prospect will burn out first.
When he lowers his sword and sighs,
you complete the trade and enjoy the joy of winning.
“Learn from the mistakes of others.
You can’t live long enough to make them yourself.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
****************
ACTION EXERCISES
Here are some questions you can use your sales activity for:
What are the three main reasons
to feel stressed at the beginning
of the closing phase of a conversation for sales purposes?
What are three things you can do
or say to reduce customer stress
before you ask them to order?
What are three ways you can build more credibility
on the part of your prospect
during a sales-oriented conversation
before you move toward closing the sale?
What are the three things you must be sure of
before asking your potential customer to place an order?
What are the three best closing tools discussed in this chapter?
What are the two “confirmation questions”
that you must ask before you can close the offer?
What do you say when a customer says,
“I want to think more”?
Finally, if there was one thing you wanted
to do immediately after
what you learned in this chapter,
what would you do?
