A Roadmap to Sales Success

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"If you find you are regularly experiencing difficulty in closing the sale, you will almost certainly need to re-evaluate what you were doing earlier in the sales process to identify the real problem." -- Richard Arundel (Sell Your Way to Success)
Vol. 1 No. 7 March, 2004		Feel free to pass this along if it can help others.
For help with sales issues: see "Ask your Sales Partner". Submit your questions to info@salestraininginc.com. All Questions will be answered via e-mail. "I recommend Sales Partners, Inc. highly to anyone interested in learning the arcane knowledge and skills involved in sales and marketing." - - Jeffrey LaRiche, Chairman and CEO, CASTLE Worldwide, Inc.		Ask your Sales Partner: Tim asks: "When should I try to close the sale?" SP: Tim, the best time to attempt to close the sale is when you have "tested the waters" by asking the proper questions and have received encouraging answers. "Trying to close the sale before the prospect is ready to buy is inviting a negative decision." - - The Success Center, Inc.

About the “Roadmap …”

Each issue of the “Roadmap to Sales Success” will contain items of interest to the business (especially the sales) community.

In addition, each issue will also feature one in a series of “progressive” articles to help you through the “Sales Cycle.” Following is the schedule:

No. 1	-	“The Importance of Sales/Salespeople”
No. 2	-	“Understanding Your Offering/Your Market”
No. 3	-	“Reaching Your Decision - Makers”
No. 4	-	“Things to Say When You Do Make Contact”
No. 5	-	“Offering Your Offering - in the Best Light”
No. 6	-	“Handling Obstacles/Objections/Concerns”
No. 7	-	“Closing a Sale”
No. 8	-	“Cultivating Lasting Relationships”
No. 9	-	“Networking for Results”
No. 10	-	“Importance/Use of a Customer Data Base”

This Month’s Sales Tips …

"You can't lose what you don't have. Ask for the order!" - - Joyce's Law #17

"If you're uncomfortable with the term 'closing', think of it as helping someone make a decision." - - Rieva Lesonsky, Get Smart 365 Tips to Boost Your Entrepreneurial IQ

Upcoming Events involving Sales Partners:

03/12/2004	-	Women Business Owners Network Meeting - "Customer Service"
04/12/2004	-	Triangle Small Business Connection Meeting - "Networking"

Please see:
http://www.salespartnersinc.com for details

Closing a Sale - - Vol. 1 No. 7 - - March 1, 2004

"Assume closing the sale is good for both you and the customer. As the closing process unfolds, a feeling should materialize of 'There is no turning back. I have created so much desire in the customer, it would be cruel to stop now.'" - - Danielle Kennedy, Closing the Sale, Entrepreneur Extra

If you've been following along (and using our suggestions), the close should just about be a "slam dunk." To reach this point, you would have: acquired a beneficial offering, identified the appropriate (interested) prospect, proffered benefits that match his/her stated needs, satisfied any misgivings, and both you and the prospect would have recognized the value in going forward.

If you and the prospect are thusly convinced that there is mutual benefit to be achieved from your offering, then you owe it to both of you to take the steps necessary to close the sale.

Seldom do prospects come right out and ask to be sold. Therefore, the salesperson usually needs to "nudge" him/her along (using "closing skills.")

The close is simply asking for the order. Why don't sales people ask for the order? Because even though they've overcome the prospect's objections, they're still afraid of rejection!

However, that rejection may be because the salesperson never got to the "true" concern. (See Newsletter No. 6 - Handling Obstacles/Objections/Concerns.)

If we don't ask, we may never know.

Now, there are many ways (closing skills) of asking for the order. Most salespeople know of only 3-4 methods and consistently use 1-2. However, our research has shown that salespeople who ask for the order 4 times or more, close 80% of the time. That's not a bad closing rate!

Remember, we both know now that we have the "right" solution and we're just trying to help move the process along!

Our Approach:
Generally, we want to ask for the order in the most casual and non-threatening manner. Here are a few such methods:

The "Summary" Close: We simply add up the previously-agreed-upon benefits and ask for agreement.
"Alternative" Choice: "Would you like to start Monday or Tuesday?" "Normal delivery or priority?"
"Easiest" Choice: "Premium" or "Standard?" "Expensive" or "Less Expensive?"

Here are some closing techniques that are a bit more involved:

"Plusses and Minuses" - also known as the "Ben Franklin" Close - draw a "T" on a piece of paper with a "+" sign on one side and a "-" sign on the other. If the salesperson has done a good job, the benefits (plusses) will far outweigh any drawbacks (minuses.)
"Try it for a while" - also know as the "Puppy Dog" Close: the prospect gets to use the offering for a short while and agrees to keep it if satisfied. (How many "Puppy Dogs" are returned?)
Variations of the "Assumed Close" - the salesperson writes the order, describes the schedule, hands the prospect the agreement, etc. - if there is no "pushback", the assumption is that there is agreement.

Lastly, there are some stronger closing techniques that require a require a certain amount of "savoir faire", lest we be accused of being manipulative:

The "Worst Case Scenario" Close - people buy things in anticipation of gain or to reduce risk/loss. This method is used when we want the prospect to recognize what he/she has to lose and to avoid that.
"Comparative" Close - a.k.a. "Keeping up with the Joneses" - here the salesperson describes how one or more acquaintances of the prospect have availed themselves of the benefits of the offering.
The "Sense of Urgency" Close (better be true) - "Sale ends Monday", "Limited Number in Stock", "Other Buyers Standing By."

There are many other closing skills that we can't go into here. The important things to remember are: we're providing "pain relief" and, once we ask a "closing question", we wait for the prospect to answer - NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES!

Next issue:

Be on the lookout for next issue of “Roadmap …” where the topic will be: "Cultivating Lasting Relationships."

Until then, Good Selling!!


Helpful Hints this month: If you're having network issues or want to upgrade your skills, see: http://www.netwktraining.com/ Like to have a website that actually does something to help your business? Please see: http://www.webdesignstudio.com/ Want help taking your business global? Start with http://www.wtcnc.org/ And, of course, to improve your sales situation, please see: SALES PARTNERS, INC. ^SM http://www.salespartnersinc.com/		SALES PARTNERS, INC. ^SM Helping companies and individuals: * Grow Revenue * Improve Sales Productivity * Enhance Customer Relationships Submit your question/comments to: info@salestraininginc.com Subscribe to the “Roadmap …”