Critical Selling

7Leverage Momentum at Closing: Capture Customer Confidence

Closing should be a natural part of the sales process. It should capitalize on the momentum that you have established along the way. It's not a scheming tool or a tacky tactic or a cheesy gimmick. Nor is it a chance to manipulate your customer or to trick her into agreeing with you. Oddly enough, however, we have found that too many sales reps still lean on timeworn closing techniques that no longer work in today's selling environment. These sales reps still consider the Ben Franklin Close (also referred to as the Balance Sheet Close), the Option Close, and the Sympathy Close to be viable approaches.

This is a mistake.

Compiling a list of the negatives and positives in a pro-con format in no way brings you any closer to closing the deal or earning trusted-advisor status. Urging your customer to sign on the dotted line because you need to make quota or because this particular sale will win you a fabulous bonus or because you need to feed your family isn't going to help you build a lasting relationship that results in more sales down the road.

Unfortunately, closing techniques such as this remain more popular than anyone should care to admit. Maybe you've fallen back on techniques such as this in the past. It wouldn't be surprising: for years, sales managers and trainers taught these techniques, presenting them to sales reps as winning methods designed to secure deals. These couldn't be any more off target today.

Whether ...