OLSEN On Sales By James Olsen
Courageous closing
M
OST SALESPEOPLE DO NOT ASK
for the order. Even fewer close courageously. We must be brave. Selling is not for the faint of heart or spirit. To become master closers, we must embrace the idea of changing someone’s mind. Our prospective customer may: • want to shop our offer • not understand/appreciate our proposal • want to give the order to someone else • want to think it over (None of the above are ever mentioned before the salesperson does their work—weird, huh?) Many salespeople accept the above as “part of the sales gig” and never try to close unless the customer says, “I’ll buy it,” which isn’t closing at all. If we are standing in front of (or on the phone with) a customer, we are probably in the right place. We are not selling something that the person doesn’t want or use. In most cases they have asked us to supply it to them! How can we “hard close” someone who has taken our call and buys what we are selling? (And probably is trying to counter our price, to boot!) More often the case is that the customer “hard shoos away” the salesperson after getting the necessary information. These are our moments of truth as salespeople.
Stand Up For Yourself
Being charming and attentive is important for salespeople. Being able to stand up for ourselves is also important for our emotional, psychological and financial well-being. I’m not talking about blowing up accounts. Some deserve it (and it feels good at the time), but giving customers “a piece of our mind” is bad business in the short and long term. Using humor is one way to change how a call is going: • “Ouch!” • “You sound like my wife/husband.” • “Do you always act like this before you give out P.O. numbers?”
That Doesn’t Work for Me
Being clear with customers when they are trying to make us a quotron is a must for the master closer. We communicate our position with phrases like: • “We don’t really do it that way.” • “The way we normally take it from here is…” • “What my clients really like in this situation is to…” • Or stronger, “That doesn’t work for me.” These kinds of phrases may cool the conversation. The customer in many cases will be taken aback—good.
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Building Products Digest August 2012
Waking customers out of their “Give me the price and I’ll let you know” reverie is good for us. Even if we don’t get the order this time, we have sent the message that we expect to get the business next time. This point is critical. Especially in ongoing B-to-B selling, how we develop the relationship is more important than the order we get or don’t get today.
The Right-Angle Close
Another way to turn a conversation and close is to use the “right-angle close.” The right-angle close can be used whether the customer agrees with us or not. It’s surprising how often a customer will say something positive about our proposal and how little we use it! Here are three ways to deliver the right-angle close: • “And that’s exactly why you should by this.” • “John, you’re making my argument for me.” • “Exactly, Susan, so we do agree.”
Assumptive Selling
Acting, in everything we say and do, as if we already have the order is the highest level of courageous closing. Many struggling salespeople sound as if they are one of many vying/whining for the business of the all-powerful P.O. holder. Assumptive sellers’ voices are calm and confident. There is respect without servitude or nervousness. Practice this. Most salespeople shamble into a business with body language that screams I am an intruder, and they get treated like one. Assumptive sellers enter a potential customer’s business as if they were an old college roommate. Shoulders back, relaxed smile, conversational—“How are you today? Is the boss around?” They ask for the owner/buyer with a calm confidence that has the help leading them to the decision-maker immediately. Our attitudes, good or bad, infect/affect our customers. If we are tentative and uncomfortable our customer will be also. When we are courageously, comfortably and assumptively bold, our customers will be comfortable also and will follow our lead. James Olsen Reality Sales Training (503) 544-3572 james@realitysalestraining.com
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