|
|
Monday, June 28, 2004
|
|
VOLUME 1
ISSUE 15
|
|
|
|
|  |
|
|
The Art of Closing the Deal
by Janet Ryan
Among the many business professionals who shy away from the prospect of having to sell anything (even their own ideas) a common reason is the fear of closing. That uncomfortable moment at the end of a sales pitch where you have to ask for the order, get the commitment, and make the deal happen. The idea of having to ask for money is so uncomfortable for some that they just can’t bring themselves to do it.
This idea of closing gets A LOT easier if you stop thinking of “THE CLOSE” as a dramatic moment just before the end of the sales conversation, and instead think of closing as something you are doing every moment throughout. In fact, many great sales people don’t think much about closing at all; instead they think about getting buy-in throughout the conversation, getting agreement as they go along, until the whole set of small agreements add up to an action that can’t be avoided…and the prospect or buyer steps naturally to the ultimate commitment naturally and easily.
What do we mean by getting buy-in throughout? I’m not suggesting that you are opening the conversation with a demand to purchase, but rather that you open the conversation with smart probing about what your prospect wants to accomplish, and you get agreement that your understanding of their objective is in fact accurate.
Then, you further clarify and refine that objective, to better understand exactly what they need, and get agreement that your refinement captures the objectives correctly. Obviously, if you fail to get agreement at any step of the way, you back up and probe and listen and clarify again, until the agreement is there. Without it, there is little reason to move forward toward your offering.
Then you might probe for price sensitivity, or competitive issues, or anything else that could keep your solution from being accepted. Where you meet any barrier to agreement, stop and analyze that resistance, working toward an understand of the problem that will allow your offering to solve the problem. If the prospect has price resistance, for example, now is the time to get agreement about their willingness to pay more if the results would be better, or if the cheaper product might not get the job done, or whatever else will justify your higher price. Again…without buy-in to these points, don’t move on to offering your higher price solution, because you already know you won’t get the order.
By breaking your sale down into all the little subparts you need agreement on, you get to the end of the call with a need simply to remind the client of all they agreed to, and then suggest that your offering is the perfect solution to what they’ve been asking for.
That makes the whole scary idea of closing much less intimidating, doesn’t it?
That’s what we mean by closing throughout the call, and in addition to being much less scary and intense for the seller, it is infinitely more comfortable and natural and at ease for the buyer….Most buyers hate the hard sell and will go out of their way to avoid it…so why make your job harder by selling the way your customer hates being sold?
Practice some simple sales conversations with the idea of getting agreement throughout, and I know your old fears about closing will be greatly minimized.
More examples coming next time….
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Copyright © 2004 WorldWIT, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Thinking Aloud is the weekly newsletter from WorldWIT, the global email discussion network for women in business and technology. Thirty thousand accomplished and resourceful women share business, technical, career, financial and 'life' advice on connected local email discussion groups like AustinWIT, BangaloreWIT and VancouverWIT. Join a free, friendly, moderated WorldWIT discussion group in your area at http://www.worldwit.org Write to us at info@worldwit.org
WorldWIT uses IMN to create and publish Thinking Aloud. Go to http://worldwit.imakenews.com/worldwit_page.asp to see sample newsletters, templates, and sign up now for your free 30 day trial.
|
PASS THIS ON TO A FRIEND
|
|
| |
