The thought of ‘closing the sale’ tends to put people into two camps; those excited at the prospect of securing the deal and those nervous and even nauseous at the prospect of getting someone to say yes with the possibility of them saying no
For the latter, the concept of closing is often something they simply can’t identify with; “Closing the sale makes me feel like a used car salesman” said a participant at one of my workshops
The problem is that if we start off with negative thoughts about something we have to do, we will more than likely end up not achieving our desired result. So what can we do?
Build commitment along the way
Closing the sale is often seen as a single point at the end of the sales process where a phrase or technique is pulled out of the ‘closing techniques’ bag to nail the prospect
However if you have not built rapport, uncovered a prospect’s real needs and presented a compelling solution, no magic words or technique will close the sale
Experiencing a sales person trying to close you when they have not achieved these landmarks is both annoying and amusing
Whilst it is true that there has to be an inducement to action, closing is about gaining commitment at every stage of the business development process, for example, gaining commitment to meet, gaining commitment to present a solution and gaining commitment to proceed
Focus on the steps along the way
The key to being more comfortable with closing is to focus on addressing each step in the process in turn
Instead of making closing the sale your objective, set objectives that relate to achieving landmarks along the commitment highway such as building rapport, uncovering needs and exploring possible solutions. This will make the interaction more palatable, less pressured and the outcomes achievable
The close is natural
If you focus on each step along the way and build commitment, then the close is a natural and expected part of the process