9 SIMPLE STEPS TO CLOSING MORE SALES
TIP #1 - Master Your Mindset
While sales may come easy to a few people, for most it can be a challenge. It requires someone who is a self-starter and self-motivator. Sometimes that’s easier said than done. Rejection is inevitable and when we face rejection repeatedly, it can wear us down. It’s often easier to quit, than to figure out a different way to “think”, and a different way to “sell”.
To be successful, you must have a clear “why”. You must have commitment, dedication and a willingness to step outside your comfort zone. The thoughts that go through your mind determine your level of success and you must have control over them so you can accomplish your “why”.
SUPER IMPORTANT – Your Mindset must be the first thing you master and you must continually work on it through books, webinars, coaching, etc. It is the most important investment you can make in yourself and your business.
TIP #2 - Shhhhh, Be Quiet
To be effective in selling, your prospect should be doing 70%-80% of the talking. Have you ever had an encounter with a salesperson who is going on and on about how great their product is, what the ingredients are, how much money it can save them, what colors are available, and on and on . . . and on. What really needs to be happening is the salesperson needs to be ASKING QUESTIONS. Lots of questions!
Not “yes” or “no” questions, questions that make the prospect dig deep and really think about what touches them emotionally. Then, STOP TALKING to hear the answer. What’s more, don’t just hear the answer, understand the answer.
Questions are the key to uncovering what the true motivation is for the prospective buyer. What is their pain? What benefit do they seek? While pain is the number one motivator, there is a whole host of other valuable information you can gather that will allow you to easily guide your prospect to the close.
HOT TIP! To be a great salesperson, you MUST master the art of asking the RIGHT QUESTIONS and being truly present to their answers.
TIP #3 - Sell to Their Actual Pain, Not What You THINK is Their Pain
Too often in sales we think back to when we bought the same product or service for ourselves. Or even what the majority of people purchase the product for. We assume that the prospect has the same wants and desires as us, or the majority of others, so we only sell to those wants and desires.
Let’s say you market a weight loss product or opportunity. Perhaps you recently lost 40 pounds, you look amazing and are turning heads. Naturally you are sharing with others how amazing it would be for them to shed some extra pounds so they can look amazing. Yet for some, that is not their motivating factor.
● It might be that they recently were diagnosed with diabetes or a heart condition and they want to get healthy.
● Perhaps they are just tired of not having energy to play ball or be active with their kids.
● They may have a special event like a reunion coming up and they want to hit a goal weight by that date.
Until you ask the right questions, you don’t know what their motivation is, and you shouldn’t even begin to sell until you are clear on your prospect’s motivation.
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EXAMPLE A
In real estate, some people buy a house for an investment, some buy to get their kids into a good neighborhood, others are looking to move into their forever home. There are also features about a house that are important to some, not to others. Some might want to be near a school, others might want to be as far away as possible. Some like close proximity to shopping, others prefer being far away from it all.
Do you see the importance of asking questions to find out what someone’s motivating factors are, which may be very different from your own?
.EXAMPLE B
Again, asking questions shows them that you care. It will also help you discover what is their pain and their motivation. Their own pain is all that matters to them. Get them emotional about their pain, show that you can help them, and you will gain their trust and a new customer.
ALWAYS REMEMBER - Your prospect needs to know that you understand THEIR pain before they will believe you can help them.
TIP #4 - Be Honest and Genuine
This really should not have to be said, but unfortunately, many sales people will say anything to get the sale, then let someone else deal with the aftermath of an unhappy customer.
If you have ever sat through a timeshare presentation perhaps you can relate. I’m not knocking timeshares, we happen to own points in two different timeshare companies, and we love it. That said, we have learned not to trust what is often presented to us in the presentations. We have too often been mislead in timeshare presentations. Sometimes it’s through non-disclosure of certain rules and regulations, and other times with outright lies.
Here is another example of misleading through omission. A friend of mine living in Southern California bought a car several years back. It was a beautiful car with all the bells and whistles she was looking for (which wasn’t a lot). What was most important to her was price, and she felt she was getting a really good deal. What she didn’t learn until after she got home was that the car she had just purchased didn’t have air conditioning. To be clear, A/C is a really important feature when you live in an area of southern California where six months out of the year temperatures range between 80 and 105 degrees.
The used car salesman didn’t lie to her and say that it did have A/C, he simply failed to mention that it didn’t. Through all her excitement and enthusiasm over the low price, he should have disclosed that it didn’t come with air conditioning (a feature we take for granted as standard on every car sold in southern California). She did go back and exchange that car for a new one that did have air. It cost her time, frustration and additional money. As such, she will never return to that dealer for another purchase.
Network Marketers will often say, “Just tell two people, they tell two people and pretty soon you have thousands of people in your organization”. The truth is, while that can happen, it isn’t that easy.
When presenting a business opportunity don’t mislead your prospect into thinking it’s a get rich quick opportunity because the products sell themselves. Yes, some products do sell themselves, however the opportunity doesn’t – it takes work. They need to understand that this is a Business, not a Hobby.
Never trick, lie or mislead your prospect. People buy from people they know, like and trust. The first time you deceive someone, you have lost not only their business, you have also killed any potential for referrals.
ALWAYS REMEMBER - Integrity is Key. Be genuine, be honest, be authentic, and be okay with pointing out that your product or service might not be a good fit for them.
TIP #5 - Make Your Intentions Clear
You may remember back in the day that it was common for network marketers to invite friends or family over for a “dinner” or a little “get together”. What was really about to go down was a sales presentation to get you to join them in their business opportunity.
If you are setting up a meeting with the intention of marketing something, be honest and open about it. A key part of making a successful sale is trust, and by misleading someone about the intention of the meeting, you have already destroyed trust.
One way to clarify intentions is with an upfront understanding. Let your prospect know you would love to get to know a little more about them because you “might” have something that could help them. Ask if it’s okay to ask a few questions and let them know there may be an offer IF you feel they are a good fit. Let them know what a “yes” would look like and that you are totally okay with if they don’t feel it’s a right fit.
Think of it like starting with the sale rather than ending with it. Why spend a lot of time asking questions and making a presentation if your prospect is not open to an offer? They will be more willing to engage in the conversation when they don’t sense throughout the conversation that you’re just trying to sell to them. They already know an offer is coming, but only if it’s a good fit.
They will sense that you are genuinely trying to help them by learning more about them. They will appreciate you getting to know them before making an offer and they will appreciate not being blindsided with a sales pitch when they weren’t expecting it.
If either of you decide the product isn’t something they want or need, they will be much more willing to give you a referral knowing that you will treat their friends or loved ones with the same respect they just felt from you.
IMPORTANT! Always have an Upfront Understanding before proceeding with a presentation. Your prospect won’t feel cornered, or blindsided and will be more open and less defensive.
TIP #6 - Don’t Believe Everything Your Prospect Tells You
A.) Have you ever gone shopping for something, and when you were approached by the sales person you said, “No thanks, I’m just looking”. You perhaps would have liked help, you just weren’t ready to deal with a salesperson hovering over you.
B.) Have you ever told someone, “No thanks, I can’t afford it” when in reality you could afford it, if you wanted it bad enough.
C.) Have you ever said, “I need to talk to my husband (or wife) when in fact you could have made a buying decision on your own.”
Believe it or not – buyers don’t always tell you the truth. Gasp!
People don’t like to be sold, yet they love to buy. As such, there is a little dance that goes on between buyer and seller where the seller is trying to get to the truth, and the buyer buys time by telling little lies.
Once again, through asking proper questions, you can eliminate all these “go to” statements that people use when they don’t want to be sold (even if they do want to buy). When you do hear the typical objections, you’ll know enough about your prospect to question the objection rather than answer it.
HERE’S A LITTLE TIP. . . you can almost always IGNORE THE FIRST OBJECTION because it is NEVER the real one.
TIP #7 - Tone Down Your Enthusiasm
Really? Tone down enthusiasm? Yes! There was a time when sales people were taught they needed to be pumped up and energetic when talking to prospects. They needed to show tons of excitement and enthusiasm which in turn would excite and enthuse their potential client.
What we have found is that too much excitement can actually put buyers off.
Although you absolutely love and believe in your product or service and you are extremely impassioned, you can close more sales if you tone down the enthusiasm and talk with people at or below their energy level.
It seems counter-intuitive but look at it this way. If you again focus more on asking questions to get them talking – they will feel heard. They will feel like you have a genuine interest and they will not feel like they are being sold. They will feel like you are actually there to help them – because you took time to hear them. That is all done in normal conversation, not a bunch of hype and enthusiasm.
Contrary to what you may have heard . . . Save the hype, high excitement and enthusiasm for when you are speaking to a group, or motivating your team, not a one on one sales presentation.
TIP #8 - Take Time to Develop Rapport
People buy from people they know, like and trust. Creating rapport is one of the most important skills you can learn. It begins with some casual conversation. However, to move beyond just casual conversation you must truly connect and there is a skill to mastering the connection.
Whole piles of books have been written on how to create rapport and understand different personality types. What I will say here is that to genuinely create rapport, you MUST TRULY CARE about your prospect.
There are lots of techniques that can develop rapport quicker to have prospects trust you more. This is the skill that helped me the most in my success.
When working with clients, this is a whole subject that we explore in depth as it helps not just in sales, it helps in day to day life to understand the people you interact with. It’s important to understand how others think and how they process information, as it will allow you to have more effective communication and develop greater rapport.
Know that Rapport starts with your prospect feeling like you understand and care about them, and a great place to start is with the questions you ask.
TIP #9 - Ask for the Sale
Yes, it seems obvious, however you would be surprised by the number of salespeople who never ask for the order.
There are several reasons why and here are some of the more common:
· Fear of rejection
· Assuming the client will just tell you when they are ready to buy
· Not knowing how to ask for the order
· Not knowing when to ask – so the conversation goes on and on and on
· More fear of rejection.
Before you ask for the sale, understand that your prospect doesn’t know what saying “yes” would mean until you tell them, so let them know what a yes would look like in your world. Along with payment, maybe it’s an application form, a link you’ll send them, immediately booking training sessions. They likely won’t say yes or want to pay until they know what the process is; so don’t ask them to buy until you’ve described it.
The key to the Sale is ASKING for the sale and never assuming it will just happen on its own.
Did you get value from these tips from Debbie Morton then you should get her course-
Magic Conversations That Close- Rejection Free.