Mastering the World of Selling: The Ultimate Training Resource from the Biggest Names in Sales

Chapter 15. Do You Have an Effective Closing Strategy?

Tim Connor

Connor Resource Group

Closing the sale is not an event. It is

• Having effective prospecting skills.

• Based on an accurate understanding of the customer's real needs, desires, or problems.

• Developing professional probing skills.

• Having a closing awareness or attitude.

• Based on the desire to help your customer solve a problem.

• Related to everything that you have done up to the final close.

• A function of a positive relationship with this customer.

• Based on the ability to come from the customer's perspective.

• Grounded in the ability to create a high level of trust.

Attempting to close a sale without all of the above criteria is to invite a "no sale" result.

Most poor prospects attempt to get the salesperson to move to the close quickly and then base their decision not to buy on price or some other stalling tactic that most salespeople can't effectively handle. Therefore the entire sales process comes down to a nickel or some differential that you can't control.

Few salespeople have a "closing strategy"—a process that they follow with each and every sales opportunity. They ask a few questions, jump into the presentation (too soon, I might add), try to overcome any objections, and go for the close. The successful salespeople know the outcome long before they get to the end of this routine process, and they learn it by ensuring that each of the above items is in place before they ask their closing question.

People generally don't like to ...