Are You Ready to Pop "The Question"

Okay so closing a sale isn't quite on the same level as making a life-altering decision to bond your entire existence with another person for the rest of your life, but for some sales people it certainly feels that way. Closing a sale, much like a marriage proposal, should be nothing more than a natural step forward in the process of selling. However, when asked what sales reps think about closing an account, the typical response is that they can’t wait for it to be over with…uh-oh doesn’t sound like happily ever after.  The big misconception is that closing needs to be an awkward, over-the-top, showy spectacle, but the truth is, when done correctly, closing a sale should be nothing more than an organic evolution in the selling process.

So, how do you know when the customer is ready? 

1. Gauge how ready your customer is to move forward.  The best way to do this is through mini trial closes throughout your sales process.  For example, “Sally, I know you mentioned that you aren’t interested in the heated leather seats feature, outside of that what other features might you be interested in having on a new vehicle?  Do you feel that the Buick LaCrosse meets all of your other needs?”  Again, good questioning is the key to deciding when the prospect is ready to buy. 

2. Put their needs ahead of yours.  What matters is what they think, if they don’t like your product/service they aren’t going to move forward.  Having a positive conversation and finding out where their current challenges lie, is a big piece of addressing how you can solve their challenge.  Solving their challenge, is meeting their need thus, making them want to sign.

3. Closing should be part of your entire dialogue with the prospect.  If you are doing mini trial closes throughout your interactions, you are surely going to know where the prospect stands on potentially moving forward.  Once you’ve gotten that level of confidence in your product/service you need to ask for the commitment.  Sometimes sales reps are so in tune with sharing their benefits and features that the prospect can give all the buying signals in the world but they forget to ask for the order.  Ask for it, if they aren’t ready, they will let you know and you can go back to figuring out where their needs aren’t being met.

   Want more info? Click below to recieve the FREE audio series: "7 Great Questions to Guaranty to Improve Your Sales Success"