Closing The Sale

Close the Sale

Empathy

Empathy is an intimate understanding of the feelings, thoughts, and motives of the other person, the prospect or the customer. That's why empathy is of prime importance in selling. Empathy is putting yourself into the prospect's shoes. It's knowing and feeling what your prospect is feeling. It's knowing exactly how to proceed depending on the information the prospect has given you.

Until you develop empathy for your customers, until you develop the skill of calling for and getting a favourable agreement that sales people call consummation, you probably won't make it in selling. The customer should sense that you understand and care about helping them solve their problems, not that you are just looking for a sale.

As a salesperson, you must truly believe that you can satisfy the prospect's needs, you must see the benefits, features, and limitations of your product or service from your prospect's view; you must weigh things on the prospect's scale of values, not your own, you must realize what is important to the prospect.

Focusing on your prospect enables you to answer the crucial question in any selling situation: When should you close the sale?

Watch for signs that a deal is near

There's a certain electricity in the air when the prospect is ready to go ahead, but here are some positive buying signs to watch for:

The prospects have been moving along at a smooth pace, and suddenly they slow the pace way down. They're making their final analysis or rationalizing the decision.

They speed up the pace. They're excited to move ahead. Suddenly, they start asking lots of questions. Like anyone else, they ask questions only about things that interest them.

They ask questions about general terms of purchase before they settle on one particular model. Some people immediately start asking questions about initial investment, delivery, and so on. They feel safe doing this because they know you can't sell them everything. If they ask these questions after you know exactly what they want, it's positive stimulus.

Go for a test close after you get positive stimulus. If you think that your customers are ready to buy, try a test question to make sure you are reading the stimulus correctly. As you get more experience in selling, you will become more proficient at reading body language and other buying signals..

Don't shorten the sales process

Some people start relying so much on positive readings that they short cut other vital steps such as qualifying or demonstration. When you shorten the overall selling cycle, it's hard to go back and restore the steps you skipped. Invariably, shortcutting steps causes you to lose many sales. Although it is important to become better at knowing when to close the sale, each prospect should get your full presentation to make sure you don't come up short at the end.

When you ask a question from which you expect an answer confirming that the prospect wants to go ahead with the purchase, you want one of two things to happen:

- The prospect gives you a yes or an answer that indirectly confirms their desire to go ahead with the sale.

- The prospect gives you an objection or asks for more information to enable them to make a -decision.

If you start talking before the prospect answers, you lose control of the negotiations. And you gain nothing. You have neither a confirmation to go ahead nor an objection; you wasted your attempt to consummate the sale.

Would you like delivery on the 10th or the 20th? They pause to think when would be the best time to have the product delivered. You get uncomfortable with the silence and start thinking that they don't want it. You panic and say, Okay, how about if I give you another 5% off? When the total investment wasn't what the prospect was considering in the first place. That's why you always wait for them to respond before you speak, after asking your consummation question, and why it is so important to keep quiet after you ask your final consummation question. If you have a big mouth, this would be the time to put your foot in it (literally) to keep yourself quiet.

If you start looking around or fidgeting, you distract the customer and let them know how uncomfortable you are. Neither of these scenarios helps you move toward a successful consummation. Try to focus your stress in a way that they will not see or recognize it as a nervous action. For example, recite the ABCs backward to yourself, or wiggle your toes — they can't see that, either. Your stress-release can be that simple.

Total Cost of Ownership Closing Technique

Total Cost of Ownership Closing Technique

Don’t talk about price but talk about the total cost of ownership like service, replacement, quality and so on.

Then compare this cost against that of competitors.

It is often good to scale this price to annual, monthly or weekly cost, where the overall cost may appear scarily high.

Examples

Other systems may seem cheaper, but when you take into account installation, maintenance and the lifetime of the product, this system is about half the price!

Because we are so confident about the reliability of our product, we charge only half the price of our competitors. That means the monthly cost is far less.

If you buy a competing product you'll be replacing it in two years. Our product will last you twice that.

People often focus on the immediate price and miss the longer term cost that may be incurred. The Total Cost of Ownership Closing Technique works by comparing costs over time rather than up-front payments. If possible, this can be put into effect with staged payments.

Of course you do need a more reliable product if you are going to offer lower service costs. It also helps to have evidence of superior quality.

Sales Closing Techniques: The No Hassle Technique

No Hassle Closing Technique

You must make completing the deal so absolutely easy for him that any thought that might put him off is not there.

Fill in all forms for the customer, do all the paperwork.

Include delivery, installation, setup etc.

Examples

I've filled in all the paperwork and all you need is to sign here.

It will be delivered Tuesday and fully installed by qualified people.

The No Hassle Closing Technique works by being so simple and easy for the other that any anticipated difficulty or hassle that may be holding him back is blown away.

It also encourages him to return the favour as an exchange for your help with the completion.

Closing a Deal: Quality Closing Technique

Quality Closing Technique

Highlight quality over other factors, above all price.

Talk about how other people will be impressed by the quality of the product.

Talk about how quality products last longer, wear less, require less maintenance, etc.

'Sell Quality, not Price'

Examples

For a one-off payment you get non-stop quality.

The quality of this shows really who you are.

This will last for ever.

Once you try this, you will never want another brand.

This  product is far more reliable.

The Quality Closing Technique works by appealing either to the other person's vanity or to their sense of longer-term value. For vanity, you are associating their identity with 'quality'. For value, you are reframing price across time.

Sales Closing Techniques: Give and Take

Closing the deal: give and take closing technique

Offer the customer something attractive, then retract the offer, taking it away.

Then make him work to get it back. You might find he's desperate enough to pay full price.

Examples

Here's what you were looking for. Oh, hang on, it's already been reserved for someone else. Well, if you want to pay cash now, maybe I could order a replacement in time for the other customer.

Ladies and gentlemen, would you pay 20 for this potato peeler? Of course you would and many have, but I'm not going to let you have it. Not yet. Now I'm going to add this utility knife and this apple corer, both worth 15 each and only ask 25 for the whole lot. Now I've only a few left, who's going to take them? Thank you madam! Yes sir, one's for you...

How it works

When a person sees something desirable, they start to psychologically close on it. Even paying attention creates a weak sense of ownership. When you take the product away, you affect the person's need for a sense of control with the result that they will likely fight back, figuratively trying to take back what is 'theirs'.

The scarcity principle says that people want what is scarce, and the more scarce it is, the more they want it.