Are You Missing the Chance to Close the Sale?

We recently had a gentleman stop by to look at our water heater. It’s about a decade old, and we’re considering replacing it.

After we invited him down to our basement to look at the existing unit, he took some pictures and then shared the differences in their service (10-year parts and labour warranty, removal of the old unit), clearly trying to close the sale on the spot.

I asked what this would cost, and he provided me a price.

After a moment of considering the price, I said, “Okay, what are the next steps?”

He responded, almost robotically, “Well, I’ll put together a quote and send it tomorrow.”

That was his first mistake … More in a minute.

This was on a Monday. Tuesday came and went, as did Wednesday. On Thursday I reached out and asked if he had sent the quote (thinking it was lost in cyberspace somewhere).

He replied to my text saying he had not and would send it later that day.

That was his second mistake.

The quote arrived, by a very basic text message, on Friday.

Third mistake made.

For a moment, let’s forget that he didn’t follow up as he suggested and that the over-promise and under-deliver strategy makes it pretty difficult to want to buy from him.

That’s not the biggest issue here.

He could have closed the sale when I said “Okay, what are the next steps?” but he didn’t.

That’s a huge mistake.

What might he have said instead? Well, there are plenty of options:

“Sign here and I’ll get everything underway.”

OR

Shake my hand and say, “I’ll send over the paperwork later this week. Let’s look at a date for install.”

The list goes on.

Look, when someone says “what’s next?” or some variation of this, that means it’s time to close.

Plain and simple.

So don’t delay — close the sale, and move on to the next opportunity.

A verbal agreement is still a legal contract.

Best,

Shawn

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