Why The Best Way Of Closing Is Not Closing At All!

One company we are currently working with asked us to deliver a half-day workshop with some of their salespeople on ‘how to close the deal’.

My trainer discussed the reasons for the request with the sales manager, and it turned out that many of the salespeople were actually pretty good at the sales process but lacked the confidence to take it to the next level and specifically ask for the order or the next stage of the process.

This is more common than we might think.

There are many reasons why a person may feel they can’t physically ask for commitment, and it often comes down to the fact they haven’t built up enough reasons prior to closing for the prospect to say ‘yes’.

So, like a typical pushy salesperson, they have to revert to ‘closing’ tricks or tactics to try to secure commitment from the prospect.

They rely on the ‘push’ method of selling that may make the prospect nervous about committing.

What the consultant does instead is they summarise their recommendations, so the next logical step in the process is for the prospect to say ‘Yes’.

Examples would include:

“Mr Prospect, we seem to be in agreement here that the solution is ‘ABC’….    I suggest we go ahead and plan the next stage”

“My recommendation is that we get this started right away so your productivity isn’t affected too much. We can have this delivered and fitted within one week. Does that sound good for you?”

Your recommendation will be the agreed best solution for the prospect - so there really isn’t any reason why they should not accept it.

What this proves is that there really isn’t any need for tricks when it comes to closing.

In fact, we shouldn’t think of this stage as ‘closing’ at all.

All things considered, what you’re really trying to do is ‘open’ the relationship.

The whole concept of ‘closing’ something down is a bit of a concern to me.

Surely, unless this is a one-off transaction, you want to establish a reason for the prospect to become a customer, then a client and then an advocate, who will buy more from you in the future?

If you think of trying to close anything, you’re shutting off from more options in the future.

So the best way of viewing the close is not to view it as that at all, but instead as the opportunity to continue to build the partnership for future mutual benefit.

Thanks again

Sean

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