Summer Issue: Four Simple Closing Strategies for More Profitable Sales

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Do you ever start out a sales presentation strong, only to lose confidence toward the end of the meeting? Closing the sale is one of the most intimidating parts of the sales process—but it’s also the most important.

If you can’t regularly close sales, you’ll never make a great living as a salesperson. But if you can crack the code, then you’ll make insanely profitable sales at a consistent pace. The following four strategies are simple ways to close more deals, so you can capture more profit—and crush your sales goals:

1. Dig deep to discover key challenges.

If you find yourself reaching the close and everything feels off track, then you probably haven’t spent enough time discovering your prospect’s deepest frustrations. From the very beginning of your interaction with prospects, you should be digging deep to find out what their biggest problems are. Armed with this information, you can then craft a solution that they’re actually willing to invest in.

Encourage your prospects to articulate what their top challenges are actually costing them in dollars, so you’ll know the exact value of your solution. Then ask, “Is solving this challenge a priority right now?” If you’ve done your job well, the answer will be “yes”—and then you can move confidently to close the sale.

2. Be honest with your prospects.

If you sense a selling situation going downhill, your instinct might be to stick to your original plan and push through—but that’s actually the worst thing you can do. Instead, stop the conversation and simply tell the prospect, “I get the sense that this just isn’t working.”

This authentic moment of straightforward honesty might be just what the situation requires. You can backtrack the conversation with your prospect, figure out where things went wrong, and then head toward the close with new information—and more trust from the prospect—than you had before.

3. Ask for feedback.

One of the best ways to increase your closing ratios is to ask for feedback from prospects that you couldn’t close. The next time you falter during a sales meeting and fail to close the deal, ask for feedback. A simple question such as, “Do you mind my asking where this meeting went off track?” will give you tremendous insight into how you can improve your closing approach and close far more sales.

4. Hand over the reigns.

You don’t want to sit back and let the prospect completely drive the sales meeting, but a well-timed moment of “handing over the reigns” can actually help you close more sales. After the discovery process and before you move into the close, put the prospect at ease by giving them some control. Try asking, “What would you like to do next?” This gives them control over their decision to buy from you—and allows you to hear exactly what they’re thinking.

About the Author:
Marc Wayshak is the bestselling author of two books on sales and leadership, Game Plan Selling and Breaking All Barriers, as well as a regular contributor for Fast Company, Entrepreneur Magazine and the Huffington Post Business section. As a sales strategist, Marc created the Game Plan Selling System to revolutionize the way salespeople, entrepreneurs and companies approach selling. Marc’s sales strategy is based upon his experiences as an All-American athlete, Ivy League graduate, startup entrepreneur and years of research, training and selling. He holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and a BA from Harvard University. Get his free eBook on 25 Tips to Crush Your Sales Goal at GamePlanSelling.com. You can call him at (617) 203 – 2171 or email him at Info@MarcWayshak.com. (Twitter: @MarcWayshak)

 

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