Closing is where all the excitement is. Closing is where the opportunity to hit a home run meets the challenge of a customer still trying to strike you out. And closing is where a lot of sales rep turn victory into defeat, just when things were starting to look great. If you are going to sell you have to be able to close, and if you are going to be able to close, you must invest more time and energy in understanding the process and honing your skills. What if I told you that the nation’s top sellers use an average of FIVE different closing strategies to complete just one sale? It’s true. So, if you only know two strategies, and you are only really comfortable with one, what does that say about your chances of closing a high percentage of big money sales presentations? You may be able to take simple orders, but you will never be able to sell.
The first thing you need to remember about closing is that, no matter how well things went during the call up to this point, a customer is still very likely to hesitate and say NO when you first ask for a commitment. The problem is almost always price, but he will begin to offer up lots of objections to make it seem like something else. Don’t be surprised or dismayed. THIS IS COMPLETELY NORMAL AND TO BE EXPECTED. People always hesitate when they are about to be parted from their money, even when they believe that making this purchase is the right thing to do. There is a kind of weird, separation anxiety taking place here between them and their money. Your job is to use as many tools as you can find to gently lead your buyer through this sensitive process. At this point, patience and trust are your biggest allies. You have worked very hard to build trust with your customer. Don’t blow it now by suddenly acting nervous, antsy, or pushy. Wait patiently and probe carefully, and give him time to get comfortable with his decision.
There are a couple of very important – and generally overlooked – principles that you must remember to follow as you begin to move your customer toward closing. The first one is pretty simple, and also pretty obvious to experienced and successful sales reps, but I mention it here because so many people fail to follow it. Here it is: if it hasn’t come up yet, before you go any farther, you must ask, “Is there anyone else who needs to be involved in the decision-making process?” You don’t want to waste all your closing ammunition on someone who can’t give you a decision today. If the person you have been talking to is only going to defer to someone higher up, or someone who is out of the office today, you need to find that out right NOW. Save your good closing stuff for the person who really has to be sold if you are going to get this deal done.
Now we come to the second vital principle. It is pretty standard to begin the closing process by submitting to your customer a question that contains a specific action request. I am going to give you a whole set of closing questions and strategies in next month’s articles, but none of them will do you any good if you don’t apply this second principle rigorously in every closing sequence you follow. Here is the most important piece of advice you will ever receive regarding the art of closing:
After you make your action request or ask your closing question -- Don’t Say Another Word. Just smile and wait for the customer to make the next move. The first person to speak, loses. If you say anything, your customer is instantly released from his obligation to answer your question and follow through on his implied commitment to buy that has been developing during the sales call.
A lot of sales reps are uncomfortable with silence, fearing it might indicate a problem that needs to be addressed. The only problem is that the customer must now face his anxiety and conquer it. You have already given him all the information he needs. If you jump in now to “help him out” with another question or more information, you have given him an escape route to punt the ball back to you, and you may never get him back. So just keep waiting quietly, even if your heart is racing and sweat is pouring down your back. Fight the urge to step in and make him comfortable. He needs to be uncomfortable for a while. Just keep smiling and waiting. He will eventually break the silence, either by saying yes, or by expressing reluctance or asking a question. Even if the eventual response from the customer isn’t yes, that still provides you with a new opportunity to clarify and move the process back to the close again, where you will make another request for action and then smile and wait some more.
Trust me on this, smiling and waiting after you make your action request will always close more deals than hand-holding and over-explaining. Next month I will show you how to combine smiling and waiting with NINE great closing strategies that will have you well on your way to becoming a sales success.
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August Sales Quick Tip of the Month - Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself
Without a doubt, a sales rep's biggest enemy is not a down economy or a stubborn gatekeeper or a difficult objection; a rep’s biggest enemy is fear. Fear comes in all shapes and sizes – but they usually can be reduced to either fear of failure or fear of rejection. If you want to defeat this enemy, you have to begin by admitting that this type of fear is irrational – sometimes it is called “borrowing trouble.” In truth, you have no idea how this call is going to go. You might fail or be rejected by a customer occasionally. What does that have to do with what might happen today? Do you have a great product? Are you well prepared? Have you taken the time to get to know your customer’s needs and goals? Then there is only one more step to take on the way to become a sales success: start believing in yourself and your product, and quit believing the lie that you are a failure. So you didn’t close the sale yesterday. Babe Ruth struck out a lot, too, but he kept swinging for the fences. Grab your bat and get to work.
