The Art And Science of Closing - How To Close More Sales Right Now

One of the questions I often get asked as a sales coach by sales people and business owners alike is, "How do I close sales better? What closing techniques would you recommend?"

In my experience, closing is one of the three most feared areas of the sales process. The other two are fear of canvassing and fear of objections. But the real question is, what is it about these three that creates such a fear? Especially, when even some of the most successful sales professionals face challenges in one or more of these three areas. The answer is simple ? fear of rejection. Humans are social animals and the fear of rejection is one of the primary human drivers so it takes a different line of thought to face this issue. Mere techniques will not suffice.

There are books about closing with hundreds of different types of closes in. Some are great examples, some are awful but all of them have one thing in common. They are just examples. They are often not usable as "off the shelf" solutions for your sales scenarios because they each represent a model and that model only works if the person you are dealing with is "running" a similar model in their personality and if your situation is nearly the same too!

Now, I am not saying don't study about sales. Infact, quite the opposite. I do recommend that you read everything you can about sales and human communications because you will learn more about sales and communications in that way than from virtually any other. What you learn however may not always be what the author intended as you should be a student of human behaviour and influence, not beholden to any one particular book! When Bruce Lee studied kung fu he took the best of each style of kung fu and designed a new art which had no set forms and changed to be the most effective for each and every situation. A good sales professional will be aiming to achieve the same.

The first tactic for achieving a better close ration is to change the words that you use. Why not "ask for the business" or "take the order" or "provide a solution" instead? These words don't create the same fear. I have tested this on dozens of sales people and removing the word that the fear is associated with removes the fear too. If anyone has read Anthony Robbin's material he describes how you can only experience feelings that you have words for and that words only have the meaning that you ascribe to them. He describes how, because the quality of snow is important to their survival, eskimos have dozens of different words for snow but we just have sleet and snow. Their experience of snow is different than ours and we cannot comprehend that because we have no words to describe it.

Secondly, it is important that you start with the end in mind. Whenever you go to a meeting or make a call think through it in your head first. Think about what outcome you want from the meeting or call and think through the possible ways this might occur. Think also of what the minimum outcome is that you are prepared to accept from the meeting or call. When you have built rapport, asked questions, uncovered your clients' needs and provided a solution it's only natural to ask for the business. After all, you have provided a solution so asking for the business is the next step! Why would you accept less than your minimum acceptable behaviour from the client?

I once worked with a talented sales professional. He made fantastic cold calls, built elegant and effective rapport and uncovered client needs effortlessly but he did little business. In a short coaching session I discovered that he disassociated the sales process from "closing" hence he would "do the meeting" and then think, "Oh dear! Now I need to close!". Cue panic. His customers could see it and the sale was lost, every time. He was in "sales" mode and they were resisting and he was a nice guy so it was easier to walk away than risk rejection or upsetting the client! Simply by viewing the sale as one seemless process with a natural conclusion he was able to see the "timeline" and "path" of the sale. If the client deviated from this he was able to maintain control and bring them back on track. He achieved a sales breakthrough literally overnight.

At this point, I might add that you must remain flexible. There will be times when you cannot make the sale for unexpected reasons. On these occasions, it is important that you assess your performance objectively. Ask yourself whether next time you could ask better questions to uncover the unexpected situation earlier. If the answer is "no" then reset your objective for the meeting. If the answer is "yes" then take on board what you have to learn and reset the objective for your next meeting. But, and this is very important, always remember to set a new objective for the meeting.

When was the last time you heard this conversation:

"How was the sales meeting?"
"Great".
"How did you get on?".
"Oh, great I think he / she will use us!".

My next question for you is, "So what's the next step?"

This should have been agreed, with time-scales with the client. If it hasn't then you haven't reached your objective. Maybe this was because you didn't set one or you didn't achieve it but this sales meeting was not "great"!

Lets face it, you work hard to find clients and get that all important meeting with them and you listen hard to understand their true needs not your perceived ones. When you provide a solution that matches their needs they are expecting you to "ask for the business". When this becomes a relaxed, natural part of the meeting you will achieve more and effortless sales.

For the last 10 years, Gavin Ingham has been helping sales people to explode their sales performance by turning self-doubt, fear and lack of motivation into self-belief, confidence and action. With his inspirational approach to sales performance and motivation Gavin combines commercial experience, personal excellence and communications technologies in delivering personal and business sales success.

Visit http://www.gaviningham.net now to join Gavin's free monthly newsletter packed full of sales secrets, strategies and tactics. Join now and get Gavin's ground-breaking 9-part objection handling course absolutely free.

---

Sales Prospects Avoiding You?

This issue's topic on sales prospects comes in response to... Read More

Reaching Goals in Direct Sales

From surveys and experience, we've noticed many setting excellent goals... Read More

Are You Doing What It Takes To Win More Sales

What does it take to be a WINNER during these... Read More

Probe Before You Sell

When selling a product to a customer, it is very... Read More

The Reason Why They Buy

If you're a business person you want to sell your... Read More

The Five Most Common Mistakes Salespeople Make

Over the decades that I've been involved in sales, I've... Read More

10 Killer Ways To Multiply Your Sales

Would you like to multiply your web site sales? Or... Read More

How to Sound Just Like a Salesperson

Prospect - "So now that I've told you what we... Read More

Achieving Sales Goals Requires Drive & Motivation

How did you do this past year on your sales... Read More

Increase Profits from Your Existing Customers

An area many businesses fail to recognise as a way... Read More

Grrr! Why Arent I Making SALES?!

Selling online can be very difficult, more difficult than in... Read More

Three Secret Keys to Persuasion Magic

Just a few critical distinctions can supercharge your communication skills:1... Read More

Customers Want You to Ask for the Money

Many years ago, I was the one starting a small... Read More

Cutting Through Stalls and Objections

It's the prospect. If stalls and objections frequently come up... Read More

Objections Are Buying Signals? Usually!

How well do you handle objections?The fact is, most people... Read More

Whats Your Sales Training Goal - Exposure or Behavioral Change?

When your company invests in sales training, what is the... Read More

Top 10 Secrets to Fully Embrace Sales and Exceed Your Goals Forever!

1.- REMAIN VERY CLIENT FOCUSED! Not Company focused. Your clients... Read More

3 Hot Ways To Crank Up Your Sales

1) QUICK FOLLOW-UPSWhen you make your first sale, follow-up with... Read More

7 Safety Tips Every Realtor and Door-to-Door Sales Professional Need to Practice

These are the top 7 safety tips that criminals don't... Read More

Assumptions ? The Hidden Sales Killer

Assumptions can kill a sale. In my sales training workshops,... Read More

Cross-selling for Increased Sales, Profits, and Customer Satisfaction

Cross-selling - the art of selling for non-salespeopleCross-selling is the... Read More

Direct Sales and the Use of Clipboards

Do you ever feel that when you are doing direct... Read More

Selling White Space

Almost all Internet Marketers have a basic idea of what... Read More

Marketing Vs. Sales

Marketing and sales co-exist and work in tandem beautifully if... Read More

Qualifying vs closing

The art of effective question asking (qualifying) determines the effectiveness... Read More

7 Quick and Easy Ways To Multiply Your Sales

There are always some great, fast and easy ways to... Read More

The Canned Sales Pitch Myth

Canned or scripted sales approaches are rarely successful, because one... Read More

10 Boundless Ways To Anchor Down More Sales

1. Multiply your marketing and advertising efforts on the Internet.... Read More

How To Get Clients To Take Immediate Action

Are you tired of excuses? Looking for a persuasion technique... Read More

More Sales - You Must Keep Asking

I bought a second pair of reading glasses from my... Read More

Acquired Expertise: Attitude and Confidence

"I recommend the 5.8 GHz Digital Phone, because it suits... Read More

Top Ten No Money Promotion Ways That Create New Clients and Fast Sales

Better than offline promotion such as press releases, talks, or... Read More

Curiosity and How It Effects Your Business Proposition

The first 15 seconds of your approach are the most... Read More