The
prospect is comfortable with us, has shared his or her primary
needs with us, understands the value we provide, desires
the results we can deliver and has had any concerns addressed
and resolved.
Now
All That's Left to Do is Get the Order!
"Do
you want the 2,500 items imprinted in red or black?" "Where
do you want the product delivered?" "Regular or expedited
shipping?" "Did you want to put this on a credit card or
have us bill you?" "Visa or MasterCard?"
Answers
to closing questions like these assume the sale,
help move the process forward and guide the prospect
to a buying decision.
If I
want 2,500 items imprinted in red, delivered to my warehouse
via expedited shipping and I want you to bill me for it,
it sounds like I've just bought something...
Typical
Sales Training Has Placed So Much Emphasis on
Closing Techniques, that Some Salespeople Try to
Skip Everything Else and Get Right to it. But that rarely
works...
Asking
how someone wants to pay for something is a reasonable question
when it follows the first five steps, but it's a
big stretch if the person is not even sure he or she wants
to order anything from us yet. That's why it's step six
in the process.
The
goal of closing the sale is to move the prospect to a
buying decision and get an answer.
If the
answer is yes, we have a sale. If the answer is no, it means
we have to go back to isolate and resolve any of the prospect's
new or overlooked objections before we attempt to close
again.
A response
other than yes or no has the potential to be more problematic,
particularly if it involves the words "I have to think about
it" or "Let me get back to you."
Learning
to close is an important skill that won't be mastered with
a single email message. But so are each of the steps to
creating clients. That's why it is so important that we
take time each day to learn what we need to do better,
so we can achieve the best results for ourselves and our
clients.
Next
week, we'll move on to step seven in our process, and help
you to turn one time buyers into loyal, repeat customers.
