Closing a sale with a prospect is always nerve-wracking. No matter how impressed or enthusiastic your prospects seemed during your demo, there’s always a chance you won’t succeed at bagging the deal. They probably decide to postpone their decision until next quarter, or ask for a price you can’t deliver.
It is the part of the sales process that most salespeople struggle to execute effectively. It is also the part of the sale that customers hate most. This is owing to the fact that most sales people resort to a ‘Push’ style of selling when trying to bring the sale to a closure. They tend to use various pressure tactics to get the customers sign on the dotted line. Customers, needless to say, resent this. They tend to view salespeople who adopt this approach, negatively. It is also a kind of behaviour that gives sales a bad name.
The challenge that many sales people face with ‘asking for the business’ or ‘closing’ as it is traditionally known, comes down to their very ‘Approach to Sales’. They aren’t there as the trusted adviser looking to create value for their customer. It isn’t the customer’s well-being that always drives them. If it were the customer’s well-being that drove them they wouldn’t hesitate to tell the customer that perhaps they shouldn’t buy right now, or buy from their firm, or buy at all, as the case might be. If your sales approach and focus is on genuinely providing your customers with concrete benefits then when you ‘ask for the business’, your act would merely be the next logical step which will get the customer to enjoy the benefit that they are seeking. Most other (pushy) closing techniques are borderline trickery!
Like any game there are rules to selling, especially when it comes to closing a sale. .Assuming that you have:
(If you haven’t done these, then barring a stroke of luck, fat chance you will be able to close)
Here are five steps for sealing the deal and thereby ensuring sales success in your business,
At no point should the customer feel pressured to sign on the dotted line. Instead, they will see you as a, trusted adviser who has their best interest at heart, at all times (that will make them want to deal with you, rather than those other pushy salespeople)You will never feel bad about asking the customer for the business. Importantly, you will end up successfully closing a greater number of sales.