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SAVVY
SELLING - NOVEMBER
18, 2005
Getting
Prospects to Say "I Do"
By Michelle Nichols
EXECUTIVE
OVERVIEW
If you'll ask for the order
more often, you'll close more
sales. Before you ask, you must
go through the sales process
but then remember to ask them
to buy!
There
are no magic words for winning
hearts or purchase orders. But
if you work on your entire presentation,
closing will be a snap
People often ask me, "How
can I close more sales?"
The problem is that they're
asking the wrong question. It
overlooks all the preparation
required to get you to the point
where you would logically ask
someone to buy. It's like asking,
"How can I get someone
to marry me?" In both cases,
the quality of your sales process
strongly determines the quality
of your outcome.
Selecting your target customers
and then finding, qualifying,
and presenting to them are essential
prerequisites to closing. Just
like in any process, the better
you are at each step, the better
you'll be at getting the order
-- and the higher your closing
rate will climb.
IT'S NOT MAGIC. I coached a
woman who designs Web sites
and had lost her last two deals
when prospective customers decided
to hire their young relatives
instead. To overcome their objection,
she had told them she thought
nepotism was bad, and she gave
them logical reasons they should
buy from her, such as her knowledge
of Web users' behavior and the
predesign research she would
do for their sites. She turned
to me for the magical words
to close the next client who
raised this objection.
Of course, there are no such
words. Instead, she needed to
improve her sales process. I
recommended that she start with
the fundamental problem of hiring
relatives. How about responding
to the customer like this, I
suggested: "Let me ask
you, do you spend Thanksgiving
or other major holidays with
them?" That gets customers
laughing as they start to imagine
how uncomfortable it could be
if they are unhappy with the
relatives' work but have to
smile and talk nice during their
holidays together.
A response like this helps
the customers to sell themselves.
It also shows that the sales
rep is down-to-earth and not
pushy. If you just sit back
and wait until your customers
finish the movie playing in
their heads, you're half way
to a close.
MORE THAN WORDS. Then it's
time to smoothly and confidently
lean in and say something like,
"There's a famous saying
that it's better to make friends
through business than to do
business with friends. If you
buy from me, you'll be sure
you get exactly what you want
and you also won't ruin your
good time with relatives at
every family gathering for the
rest of your life. What do you
say?"
The funny thing is, when it
comes time to ask for the order,
your exact words seldom make
or break the sale. Here's a
personal example: When my husband
asked me to marry him more than
20 years ago, he said, "Will
you be my wife?"
I admit, my first thought was
to tell him I didn't want to
be anybody's property. But thankfully,
before those words left my mouth,
I thought about what a great
guy he was and how well we got
along. I saw this darling, 6'4"
hulk of a man down on one knee
in a puddle of moonlight, looking
into my eyes with excitement
and expectation. Of course I
said yes.
Most sales calls don't culminate
in a scene out of a romance
novel, but the lesson is the
same. Preparation matters and
when he proposed, I didn't respond
to his words. I responded to
the entire "sales process"
that led up to the big question.
HOT LINES. I can't write a
column on closing sales without
giving you a few specific ideas
on how to close. Here is a list
of ways you can ask for the
order:
1. Do you want to get started
today?
2. Have you decided which color/size/model
you think would work best for
you?
3. Is there a deadline when
you would need to have it delivered/installed/up
and running?
4. How were you planning to
pay for it?
5. We offer several great payment
options. Do you want to discuss
them now or later?
6. Is there anything holding
you back from moving ahead with
us today?
7. You say you need to get someone
else's approval. Are they in
this building? Could we go see
them now, together, and try
to get this finished?
8. If you don't buy from me,
how else might you solve your
problem?
9. We have a 90-day money-back
guarantee. Why don't you give
us a try?
10. Buying our services is such
a small part of your job. You've
done your homework and you know
that our proposal is a good
solution for your situation
and our company has a long reputation
for good service. Why don't
you go ahead and give us your
approval now and we can get
the ball rolling so you can
get back to all the things you
needed to get done by yesterday?
11. Would you like to get finished
sooner and start with our complete
package or do you want to take
it step-by-step and begin with
our starter package?
ASK FOR IT. Exactly how you
close doesn't really matter.
What does matter, of course,
is that you must ask for the
order. I interviewed a marketing
expert who said he never asks
folks to buy, he just keeps
giving them valuable ideas and,
eventually, they buy something.
Sorry, I don't agree. It's like
dating forever. If you want
to get married, at some point,
one party has to pop the question.
Don't focus solely on the close.
If you concentrate on doing
a good job at each step of the
sales process and remember to
ask for the order, you'll close
more sales. Happy selling!
Michelle Nichols is a professional
sales speaker and consultant
based in Reno, NV. She welcomes
your questions and comments.
You can visit her web site at
www.savvyselling.com
or contact her at michelle.nichols@savvyselling.com.
Her direct line is (775) 303-8201
and her
toll-free number is (877) 352-9684.
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