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Stop Selling! E-Zine - Issue No. 31 /April 2007

Dear Reader,

Buying can be a quite frustrating and unpleasant experience.

A few weeks ago I wanted to buy a new DVD player. I was looking for a portable player because I wanted to fit it into the narrow side board just below my flat screen TV. Additionally, it had to be a 'top loader' and not a 'front loader' because of the limited space.

First, I had to learn that top loaders (similar to CD Walkman's) have become quite rare, apparently the demand dropped dramatically, perhaps due to i-pods and MP3 players.

In the first shop, the sales person tried to convince me that I should buy a front loader (they didn't have any top loader) and pitched a model with a slick design (and hefty price tag). When I tried to explain my situation, he interrupted me so that he could persuade me with all the great benefits of this device. I saw no choice but to leave.

The next shop had one single top loader but the sales person tried to tell me that this model is from last year and thus certainly not suitable for me. When he tried to show me the latest front loader models, I left before being favored with another list of benefits that didn't matter to me.

Finally, I got lucky in the third shop. They had the same top loader model as in the second shop. Fortunately, the sales person responsible for the DVD section was not available, so I asked the lady responsible for refridgerators to simply get me that model and take it to the cashier.

What can we - as sales people - learn from such experiences? I leave the conclusions up to you.

And I didn't mean not to have any [sales people].

Let's keep progressing!

Charlie Lang
Executive Coach, Trainer and Founder of Progress-U Ltd.
Author of The Groupness Factor

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Closing.

This topic is one of the thorniest topics in sales. When you have finished up a meeting or call with a prospect you reach the moment of truth. To close or not to close? That is THE question in sales in many ways because a sales cycle without a positive close is really an exercise in public relations (not that there is anything wrong with that - if that is the objective of the call).

Closing shouldn't be that hard

But let’s face it. All salespeople would like to walk away with an order. A salesperson who does not close well and consistently, is faced with a life of frustration and poor commission cheques.

So it is self evident as to why to close is important. But the next three questions are harder to answer.

Many salespeople often forget to ask themselves who is the decision maker. Who to ask for the order?

An example of this is when a married couple goes to buy a small family car. Many salespeople (even today) make the mistake that they believe they know who the customer is. They just assume it is the husband (especially if the salesperson is a man). The salesperson will spend a lot of time talking about the power output of the car, how well it brakes and its handling abilities only to the husband while the wife looks on.

I think we know where this sale is going. So I suppose that it is always important to make sure to know who the decision maker is and to make sure that when there is an appropriate moment to close that this person is at least considered.

The next question is how? By this I mean what questions/tactics to use to ask for the order.

Many people think that you must memorise every closing question or technique there is in the book. I don’t agree. I researched the internet and found that there are 148 closing questions. 148! I cannot even remember 8, much less 148. I think here that simplicity is best.

What do I mean by simplicity? First things first. Buyers are people. People like other people to be authentic. In fact, people can spot a fake fairly well. There is another obvious fact. Buyers today are sophisticated.

What does this mean? You don’t need tricks or techniques to ask for business. I actually think they make things worse. Let’s keep the closing simple and honest. Provided the call has gone well and the buyer has shown a genuine need and has the money to spend, then there is an opportunity to do a trial close.

If you are not sure, there is a way of testing resistance. An example of this is when the meeting with the customer has gone well and the customer starts talking about delivery or implementation or the exact product they want.

Some good testing questions here is to ask are:

‘Do you feel comfortable I have answered all your questions?’
‘Would you like to proceed at this stage?’
‘So when did you want to make a decision?’

Not many customers would be upset by these types of simple, direct questions. A positive response to these questions would lead to a positive outcome and an order (I would predict).

Now the toughest question of all. When to close? There are too many factors to consider all the conditions necessary before deciding when to close. At the logical end of a meeting or discussion is the short answer. What I mean by that is one should not be bound by a certain time or stage in the sales cycle.

This is when it is important to combine ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills. Hard skills like your logic tells you have addressed all the needs and answered all the questions. But people are not robots. You cannot just tick off a checklist and then assume you can close. Soft skills like reading the eagerness, attitude and mood of the customer are important.

But I think the real answer to when to close is this.

When you have earned the right!

Have you earned the right to ask? If you really feel the answer is yes, then you are ready to close.

This means that you and the customer are in alignment - you have both invested time in coming to a solution or deciding on a product. You have answered all their questions, fulfilled all their needs, addressed their objections, potentially even coached them to better understand their real needs. You have now made them feel comfortable with the decision to purchase.

When you reach that stage, closing is easy. Customers often close themselves.

Talk to you next month.

For more information related to Progress-U's Stop Selling! programs please click here.

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