Closing the Sale
Selling is a skill and as all skills we need to use them and practice them regularly. Once we practice a number of times our incredible brains create a memory groove that make us perform our skills naturally and without even real consideration we put them into practice subconsciously.
During the sales process we use many skills …..Listening, questioning, developing trust, and offering benefits of our products that match the buyer’s needs. Once we move into the area of recognising the signals to buy from our customer we are nearly there. After all the efforts we have made so far is it incredible that most people forget or simply do not close the sale! (Find more great articles like this one by following this link).
Why is this?
Maybe it is our own self limiting beliefs that we cannot or do not have the confidence to take the last step. Maybe it is simply we don’t know how to close or maybe it is because we are typically British and don’t like to talk about money.
Whatever the reasons we have the underlining fact of what makes a good sales person or a company successful is that they are able to see the signal to buy and then they have the know how to act and close it by using one of the five closing techniques.
Here are 2 excellent techniques on how we can close. Pick one that you are most comfortable with and also consider which technique could be useful for different scenarios we may face and also the different personality types.
1. Confident Close
This close as it suggests is bold and is used with confidence. As with all closing techniques the style of the close is about the words and tone we use. Here are some good examples of the Confident close;
“When would you like to start?”
I’ll get the order together right now!”
I’ll do that for you now!” “
I’ll put the admin/paper work in place right away!”
As these examples suggest it gives the impression that the sale is in place and going through.
2. Fear Close
This is a fun technique and is a bit of a game. This technique is great as the customer does not know what you know. We can dress up a fact that we are very busy with business and that the service/products we offer are now becoming harder to supply. This then creates a feeling of fear within the customer as they are fearful that may miss out on a good deal.
Alternatively the offer may end soon or the price is about to change. In fact we can even say to them that our price is very keen this week but you will need to move quickly as they are going up from next week.
Whether they are or not is something we know but the customer does not.
“It’s the last one of that size!”
“Bargain of a lifetime!”
“They are going quickly!”
“Promotion ends soon!”
“Whilst stocks last!”
Remember …….Always be closing.
Play the game and they do not know what you know!
James Pope, The Training Expert