Let’s talk closing

Closing is about agreements.

What is a close?

To many it’s “Getting the Sale”.

True, but this is a very narrow definition of a close.

When we think of long tail selling (selling over an extended period) we can redefine a close as: “Achieving ones Objective for an Engagement”.

This could be:

• Prospect agreeing to accept additional information from you.

• Prospect agreeing to get more information for you.

• Getting a new meeting with the Brand Manager or Marketing Director.

• Permission to visit a client’s retail stores for the purpose of providing insights.

• Getting the order!

The list is endless. It all depends on where you are in the sales cycle and what action is needed to move you to a final agreement. (the sale)

This approach is a must when you have Procurement and/or a Search Consultant mediating the sale.

Think therefore of getting the sale as a combination of 1,425 little closes.

Persistence

How much persistence should you use?

It depends on what you’re selling and to whom.

In the “One Shot” sale such as is often the case in the automotive or insurance business, heavy persistence is frequently used to whittle down the prospect’s resistance. This too is why the subject of “Selling” has gotten a bad rap!

A specialty or service salesperson can use persistence, but prudently, over time.

Advertising and marketing businesses fall into this category as do Media sales, CPG, some specialized retail, pharma, commercial insurance, banking, and government sales.

But! If you rely on repeat business as a consistent source of revenue, it isn’t wise to initially be over-persistent.

This does not mean that after the first or second “NO” one should give up. It means that the client or prospect is then placed in a lower sales conversion priority but nonetheless patiently and continually courted and serviced when needed.

Always ask for the Business

Remember, so far, there has not been a single death because of a salesperson asking for the order, but many have been impoverished by not asking.

Therefore, ALWAYS ask for the business unless it is obvious that the prospect is not ready to buy.

The Unqualified Prospect

There is the exception of a prospect being clearly “unqualified” as a potential client.

Sell smart, not hard!

In a service business, spinning one’s wheels on an unqualified prospect is a detriment to effective time management and use of selling time. I’ve personally witnessed many who work themselves to the bone, without much result. This is a sure sign of spending too much time stubbornly trying to sell those who are just not in the market to buy.

There are times one will lose the battle but win the war, especially if this same prospect ends up at a different company a year from now and remembers your graceful exit.

However, to execute this “walk away” strategy, one cannot have only 5 prospects on the list. The fewer prospects you have in your pipeline, the more likely you will stay the course and persist away regardless.

The key is to create a list that has so many prospects on it that if you walked away from 50% of them, you’d never know the difference, nor would you care.

It’s like finding a date. If you only have one person to call, you’ll keep calling and calling and calling. If you had 10, you’d more likely just move on to the next.

Decisions can be changed – they are not always irrevocable, and prospects admire the salesperson that can gracefully accept a “NO”.

Work on maintaining a good relationships rather than risk the chance of continually attempting to close an account (who’s obviously not ready to buy) and losing the business altogether.

Prospect’s post sale remorse is your worst nemesis and is often the result of an overzealous salesperson forcing a close.

Once you get the close

After getting agreement, don’t keep the prospect talking about unimportant and unrelated trivialities. He or she is a busy person. Minimize this end of sales talk. More discussion oftentimes leads to further questions and undoing the close.

You may perhaps reassure the prospect that he or she has made a wise decision.

The reverse sometimes applies, where a salesperson can’t get away from a talkative prospect.

Here is a magic phrase which can save you hours. As you stand up and hold out your hand or gracefully exit from a Zoom meeting, say:

“Mrs. Jones, you must have a lot on your plate – I’ll leave you to it. Thank you for your business. I will be in touch shortly to……”.

That gives you an inoffensive exit.

5 Types of Closes

Here is a starter kit of 5 easy to remember closes you can apply to any engagement with a prospect or client.

Question

Are you interested in having us draw up a proposal for your review?

Assumptive

I take it you will need us to provide an analytics resource to conduct optimization modeling over the next 18 months?

Alternative

Which month would be best for us to start the initial research with customers and the competition – June or July?

Suggestive

May I suggest we move ahead by proposing the exact steps we’d take to address the issues mentioned?

Summary

We will ensure that:

1.     All your interactive and brand communications are in sync with each other,

2.    We meet with each of the directors by May 21st,

3.    All plans will be approved by both you and brand management.

Would next Monday at 9am work for you to reconvene and discuss the final details of the project?

The Last Word

The most common close is where one states rather than asks for the sale, often using the close to summarize why their company deserves the business over all others.

If the prospect does not know that you are their choice by then, your chances of getting it are remote at best.

Therefore, if the prospect(s) looks ready to buy, ask for the business with one of the above closes.

If they don’t, turn the meeting into more Q&A, in the hopes of a graceful recovery for both you and them. At a minimum, it may leave the door open for future engagements.

Source: Over 4 decades of learning from and teaching personnel at some 500+ marketing agencies and over 100 of the Fortune 500, teaching their managers and C-suite to win their case.

Next Month: “Brilliant Strategic Thinking”. One of the most disagreed upon concepts in business. No, that’s not on strategy! That’s too tactical! That doesn’t sound like it’s strategic enough! Well, what the heck is strategic anyway? You’ll not only get the answer, but how to apply it to your business.