You’re familiar with the dreaded drill: find potential clients, connect with them, present your solution, but somehow don’t end up closing it.
Maybe your prospect cannot afford what you have to offer or ditched you for a competitor. Perhaps they decided to hold off deciding until the next quarter.
Why is this happening? Where are you going wrong? What can you do to close the deal?
To close deals successfully, you need to understand the other person’s goals, make a compelling offer, and overcome objections. Then, once you determine a mutually beneficial proposal, you have to figure out the right time to ask and use the best technique to close the deal.
Close the Deal Meaning
Closing a deal is a term sales professionals use to describe a situation where they bring negotiations to an end by reaching an agreement with their prospect. It’s the very moment when a prospect decides to make the purchase. Closing deals is a very nerve-wracking process for sales reps since they are left exposed to the chance of rejection from the prospect.
Selling Made Simple Two-Step Technique For Closing A Deal
At Salesman.org, we use a two-step process to help sales reps close a deal. Don’t worry; it’s straightforward and highly effective!
Step 1 — Ask: “Does It Make Sense To… “
This will help you determine whether the customer needs more help to understand how your solution can benefit them. For instance, you can ask, “We’ve been through our automation capabilities. Does it make sense to sign you up into our system so we can start working together? ”
That’s it.
Next, you wait for the prospect’s answer. If the prospect says yes, congratulations! You can send over the necessary paperwork to get them on board.
If they say “No,” don’t lose hope. Move on to Step 2.
Step 2 — Ask: “What Needs To Happen To Move Things Forward”
As a sales professional, you’ll always find yourself hearing, “No. “It can happen again when you ask the question in Step 1. So the next step in the process is to figure out how to take things forward despite the initial rejection.
Ask the second question: “What needs to happen to move things forward? “This will encourage the buyer to tell you why they haven’t agreed and what you can do next to get the deal done. No brainstorming or contemplating alternative scenarios is needed on your part!
The prospect may want a formal proposal outlining everything you discussed with them orally. Or a copy of the contract to send it off to the legal team before giving the final sign-off. Whatever the reason, you’ll hear it directly from the horse’s (the prospect’s) mouth.
Additionally, you should be closing deals throughout the sales process, and not just at the end of it. For instance, you can apply this methodology at the end of every sales call.
- “Does it make sense to discuss if you are a good fit together? “
- “Does it make sense to check whether you have the budget before we need to move things forward? “
- “Does it make sense to hold a formal meeting to discuss how the product can benefit your organization?”
… you get the drift.
Following this simple process will push the sales forward, helping you get that verbal agreement from the prospect that they genuinely want to progress with the deal.
More Tips To Help You Seal the Deal
Here are a few extra tips to help you understand how to close the deal over the phone or close the deal when selling. Let’s take a look.
A) Research Your Prospect Thoroughly
The first step in sealing the deal is to do your research.
You have to be well-versed in your company’s offerings and know-how to demonstrate the value the product or service can provide your prospect. Doing this will help you decide which of your offerings are most suitable for your prospect, eliminating the chance of you pitching the wrong product and losing the prospect altogether.
Another good tip is to expand conversations beyond your point of contact.
Try to speak to others in the company, especially crucial decision-makers and other departments. This will help you learn different perspectives, and more importantly, define the organization’s pain points. Then, use these insights to tailor your pitch and present your products or services in the best possible light.
B) Talk Budgets and Timelines
To improve the chances of closing the deal, you should clarify budgets and timelines early in the sales process. This way, you can understand whether the prospect is ready to buy now or somewhere down the line.
If the prospect is ready to buy right away, you should prioritize them over your other dormant prospects. If they aren’t, you can revisit them when they are ready. Again, we recommend talking about budgets and timelines before presenting a demo of your product or service.
C) Offer Solutions and Handle Objections
Instead of selling your products or services, offer solutions. Show the prospect what your product or service can do for them and tailor your conversations from their context. Prioritize the prospect, their pain points, and challenges.
Your potential clients can still have concerns and objections after educating them about your product or service’s benefits. After all, they spend their money and want to know what you’re offering is worth it.
An excellent way to handle objections is connecting with the prospects and winning their trust. Never brush off their concerns, and show them you understand where they come from. Looking back at past objections that you or your colleague has received can also be a good starting point to prepare for similar scenarios.
D) Leverage Storytelling
As a sales professional, you don’t have a lot of time to impress your prospect. Therefore, you need to earn trust from the get-go, which is why you want to use every opportunity wisely. Compelling storytelling is an excellent way to make a positive impression on a prospect.
Now, when we say storytelling, we don’t mean telling just any random, irrelevant story that takes the conversation on a tangent. Instead, you want to tell stories that commit to memory and allow you to tap into your prospect’s emotions relatively quickly.
Here are a few forms of effective storytelling:
- Personal Testimony: Share a personal testimony of someone relevant to the prospect to assure them about your team’s competency and support if things go wrong.
- Success Story: Share a story about a client who is similar to the prospect (similar pain points, industry, business size) and the benefits the former experienced as a result of using your solution.
- Quick Aside: Occasionally, you can go on an unrelated tangent if things are going well between you and the prospect. Incorporate humor, hope, or emotion into the conversation to stand out from your competitors.
E) Set Up and Clarify the Next Steps
Many sales reps forget to set up the next steps, which creates difficulties when closing deals.
Suppose your prospect has accepted your proposal and wants to move forward. In that case, you should finalize paperwork and provide the customer with all the information they need to use your products and services easily. This also includes post-sale services, where you check in to see if the client is having any issues or problems after product delivery or the rendering of service.
10 Best Statements to Close the Deal When Selling
Below, we’ve created a short listicle of non-salesy transition statements to bring the buyer closer to the decision stage.
- Does it make sense to move forward? I can send over the contract right now.
- After considering all your requirements and challenges, I think these two products would be best for you. Product X can help you [product benefits] while Product Y can be invaluable for [pain points solved]? Which one would you prefer out of the two?
- Would this be a better fit for your organization or budget in the next quarter? If so, I’m happy to follow up then.
- I know X is your biggest priority for the current year. Our solution can help you achieve X by X date.
- If we implement Product A by X date, I think you can start seeing ROI by August. This means it’ll have to close by X date. Is this enough time for you to make a decision?
- Surely you don’t want [negative consequence] to befall your company because you didn’t have the right product in place. Do you want to take the crucial steps to protect your organization today?
- I think Product X will make a good fit for you and your organization, and here’s why [reason]. Would you like to take this conversation forward?
- Would you like to finalize this solution that’s within your budget and solves [challenge]?
- Why don’t you give [solution] a try?
- X and Y features are of the most interest to you, right? If you get started today, you can have the system up and running by [date].
As you can see, each of these statements is benefits-oriented and focuses on the prospect on their needs and pain points.
