In a perfect world, every prospect would shake your hand and sign on the dotted line immediately after you’ve presented what you have to offer.
Unfortunately, deals are almost never that easy to close. For many salespeople, it’s close to impossible.
Whether you struggle to get the prospect’s trust or find you can’t close the deal, we have compiled some of the most valuable tips that will help you get your averages up and close more deals.
TIP 1: KEEP IT SIMPLE
Unfortunately, when we don’t feel confident or clear in our offering we can get verbal diarrhoea. This is not good. Saying less and being concise is a clear sign that you know your stuff and you won’t waste their time or yours. In the case of the business owner I was discussing this with, they had a new and very complex offer that was impossible to understand if you weren’t trained in the field. We got around this by stating it was too hard to explain and reminding the prospect that they are more interested in outcomes, not processes. We clearly focused on being specific with the outcomes they could provide and offering the client (in this case potential strategic partners) a complimentary session to see the results for themselves.
TIP 2: SAVE SOME MYSTERY AND KEEP THEM CURIOUS
As the old saying goes ‘curiosity killed the cat’ and the same is true in all human interactions. I am not saying be deceitful, but keep a few wild cards up your sleeve so the prospect is eager to find out more. In an article I recently read by Andy Raskin, he talks about the promised land, in his own words.
“Your Promised Land should be both desirable (obviously) and difficult for the prospect to achieve without outside help. Otherwise, why does your company exist?”
– Andy Raskin
TIP 3: BUILD A RAPPORT AND USE HUMOUR
This is no great secret but it amazes me how bad some people are at building rapport. A key to building genuine rapport is to add humour to the mix. When you are able to connect with the prospect and have a laugh then you have found common ground. There is a big difference between having a laugh and not taking the situation seriously so limit the humour to a maximum of two times in the process. I find it helpful to use humour at the start as an icebreaker and then later on if the prospect is responding like they need to break and want to shift gears. This humour will come as a welcome change and the prospect will appreciate you not making the process dry and boring.
TIP 4: BE TRANSPARENT/ HONEST WITH WHAT OUTCOME YOU’D LIKE TO SEE
In the past I have had clients say to me with a grin “You are trying to sell me aren’t you?” to which I reply “Absolutely, because I know this is a good fit for you and that is how I make money”.
At the end of the day, we are not in business to go broke. It is a commercial venture and as such, we need to close sales. Don’t feel bad that you have to ask the prospect to buy, it is what they want. Referencing the example above of offering the strategic partner a complimentary session, you should follow this up by saying “I want you to see how good I am so you feel confident to recommend me to all of your clients.”
“If people like you they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you they’ll do business with you.”
– Zig Ziglar
TIP 5: BE CLEAR ON WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN NOT DO
Feeding on from the rule above but more specifically about telling the truth about what you know and what you can do. For some reason, a lot of salespeople feel they need to have all the answers to win the client over. This is not the case. Do you know someone that knows everything? I doubt it. So be honest with this. My stock standard reply is always “I don’t know but I will find out”. This leaves the customer with three pieces of valuable information.
- You won’t say anything to win a job;
- You won’t lie to get out of doing some extra work; and
- You can be resourceful and be counted on to look after the customer.
The other place this rule works well is when you are asked if you have the capacity to take on the client’s work. The worst thing you can do is over commit and under deliver and conversely, the best thing you can do is show the customer that you are busy and if they want you next time they will have to do more forward planning to lock you in.
TIP 6: KNOW YOUR STUFF
This is pretty obvious but as more of a clarification of rule 4, it is not ok to not know what you are doing and be able to clearly articulate your value. It is completely fine to get caught on a specific point for a specific customer but in the general context of what you do and trends in your marketplace, you should be a ninja.
TIP 7: ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS
The worst move you can do in sales is to make an assumption. You will always look too eager and that your focus is on you making a sale and not solving their problems. Take your time and ask lots of questions, don’t jump to conclusions and never stop the prospect from talking. All the hidden motivators to buy will come out when you give the prospect a chance to relax and tell you what they think and how they feel. You need to understand your prospect completely so that you are in a state of empathy for them and you can think and feel how they do. When you hit this point you can then start to see what they may want before they can and you can help guide them along.
“Get closer to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realise it.”
– Steve Jobs
TIP 8: CUSTOMERS WANT TO BE LED
The sales process is a journey and you are the guide. This is the way it is and if you are not doing this then your conversion rates will tell you this fact.
So many business owners and sales people feel bad for taking the lead with the client – DON’T. It is what they want and what you want when you are buying too.
There is nothing worse than being the customer and not knowing what is next. We want to be shown a path and guided through the journey. Whatever your business you are the professional in that field. Imagine going to the surgeon and they didn’t take the lead and you felt you were controlling the interaction… Sounds pretty scary to me. Be the leader and step your customer through the sales process to make it easy for them to buy. No matter what stage of business you are at, resist the urge to shift your focus from the customer to the bottom line of your business. Don’t be reactive and stay focused on the long game.
