Can’t Close The Deal: 5 Effective Strategies To Get The Prospect To Say Yes

It’s frustrating, right? You do all the heavy lifting. You make the calls, you get to the decision maker, you have the conversation, you put together the proposal and even with all that effort, you just can’t seem to close the deal.

Getting the deal to close is one of the biggest challenges of sales reps today.?In fact 48% of sales calls end without even attempting to close, and the majority of sales organizations only close about 20-percent of their sales.?That is a lot of effort, and a lot of expense for very little payoff.

So, Why Can't You Close the Deal?

There are a number of reasons that salespeople struggle to get sales to close, but the biggest (in my opinion) is they make closing the sale their goal and priority.

If what you are trying to do is get the customer to buy, then you have sales all wrong. Getting the deal to close is not the goal, it is the natural outcome of a sales process executed flawlessly.

See, when your goal is to close the sale, customers can actually feel that you have put your own priorities above theirs. And while that shift has always negatively impacted the ability to close the deal, it is even more true in today’s marketplace.

Why? Because customers have a choice. They can find the products and services they need from a variety of your competitors, and if at any moment they do not feel you have their best interest at heart – guess what? They will move on to one of those competitors and your deal will not close.

Getting Customers To Say Yes?

So if you want to increase your close ratio, get more turns at bat and more home runs, then you need to shift how you think about sales and closing sales.

Focus more on how you can help customers make the best decision for their companies and their goals, and trust that the more customers you help, the more deals you will close.?Trust your process.?

When you as the sales person focus your time and efforts on trying to help prospects achieve their goals, they feel that you are more interested in their success than your success and the result will be more closed sales. This means more repeat business, more referrals and a stronger reputation.

5 Strategies To Get The Prospect To Say Yes and Close the Deal

So here are five strategies you can use to create a strong process, one you can have confidence in, and one that will position you to increase your sales ratio, get more prospects to say yes, and close the deal.

Choose The Right Prospect

If you want to close more sales then you need to start the sales call right. You need to focus on the right prospect, the avatar that fits your ideal customer.

Make the Connection

Slow down the sales process and work on building relationships first. Remember, prospects can buy the product or service from anyone. If you want your prospects to invest in you, then you need to invest in them first.

Know the Industry

I had a CEO make a great comment to me – he said he did not need another sales person who asked him what kept him up at night – he needed a sales person who could tell him why he could not sleep and offer the solution that would make him sleep like a baby. That is your job – to be the expert and know more about the industry than your prospects and customers do. You need to be the resource so you not only close one sale, but prospects see you as someone they want to do several deals with.

Solve the Right Problem

If you want prospects to believe you are more focused on their goals than your own, then do that. Spend the time listening to figure out what the urgent need is, what are they most worried or concerned about, and then solve that problem. The right problem for a prospect is the one that is MOST top of mind for them. It may not be the biggest challenge you think they're facing, but until you solve their biggest need, they cannot hear anything else you are telling them to do.

Follow Up, Follow Up, Follow Up

And last but not least, closing sales is about follow-up. The sale happens in the follow-up. It always happens in the follow-up. It is not unusual for a deal to go dark or cold. I mean, think about it - customers and prospects are busy. Calling you back is not always their top priority. So you need to nurture leads along, stay in touch, continue to build the relationship and add value. Because when they are ready to buy, you want to be the one that is standing there ready to close the deal.

Closing the deal is not hard, it is just a natural outcome of a sales process done well. Sales is just about having a conversation with people to see how you can help them, and when you understand their problems, give them the solutions they need, they will choose you over the competition every single time.