How do I get better at Closing?

Get better at Opening

As with any business, I try to help my customers with their biggest challenges.  When it comes to selling skills, the number one challenge salespeople have is Closing.  At least that’s what they think is their biggest challenge.  They want the result: a sale.  In their mind, the sale is when the customer says yes.  So, they want to get better at that moment the customer says, “Yes”, which is understandable.

However, their struggle to close starts way before the close.  It starts with the open.  The way you prepare and begin the sales conversation are far more important than how you close or even what the closing question is.  To help explain this in training, I like to use the example of a marriage proposal. 

Wanting to get better at a closing is like saying you want to get better at asking someone to marry you.  Does the answer to your proposal (your Closing) depend on the wording of the question, the location, the fact that you got down on one knee, or even the size of the ring?  Of course not.  Well, hopefully those things don’t matter.  Let’s hope the answer depends on how good of a fit you are for your future spouse.  Although someone in the crowd usually remarks that the size of the ring might be a deciding factor.

To develop a Better Open, do this today:

1. Write better questions in your pre-call planning

First, do a pre-call plan.  This step is often skipped.  We like to use the lack of time excuse.  Skipping it leads to a bad open from the very beginning of your sales call.  Taking a few minutes to be thoughtful about what you need to ask on your sales call will greatly improve your ability to advance the relationship.

2. Rehearse those questions until they feel completely natural and conversational

Yes, that’s right.  I want you to turn your radio off while driving to the customer and practice your questions.  When you get on your call and you get a bit nervous, you will appreciate the time you spent rehearsing.  If you don’t, you will most likely skip asking the question out of fear of looking bad to your customer. 

3. Have an agenda for a sales call

The agenda doesn’t have to be a printed formal agenda nor shared with your customer.  It just needs to be thought out prior to the call.  Without an agenda, you are subject to the whims of whatever happens on the sales call.  My agenda is often just a few bullet points of topics or areas I want to dig into.  All I need is a key word or two to remind me of the agenda item or the question I wanted to ask.  I don’t need the whole sentence. 

The other advantage of the agenda is it reduces social calls.  Salespeople can fall into the trap of getting lazy and “just stopping by” or “just checking in”.  Customers are busy.  Even if they really like you, they probably don’t want you to “just wander in” with out a purpose. 

The other value of an agenda is it leads to a next step.  When you have an agenda, you have a reason to go see a customer.  That reason is to get them to take the next step in the buying process.  Again, this prevents the randomness of just shooting the breeze with a customer until you feel they are ready for your closing question.

4. Shift the focus from you and your products to them and their business as soon as you can and for as long as you can

Here’s the struggle or trap we get ourselves into.  We make the appointment with a customer to tell them about a product, service or program, etc.  That’s the reason for the sales call.  When we get on the call, that’s exactly what we do.  We meet and greet.  Then, the customer asks you to go ahead and tell them all about your product, service or program.  So, you do.  Then you close and wait for their reply.  Makes sense.  That’s even how the sales training process was taught.  The struggle with this is that there was no discovery done with this individual customer.  So, the close is going to land on a lot deafer ears than if you spent the time to shift your focus to them.  Do this as soon as it makes good sense to do so.  The best is right at the beginning, before you ever start talking about you and your products. 

Good luck in your efforts to close more sales with a stronger open!