I Can’t Increase Sales Because I Can’t Close
Posted by: Cheryl Clausen in sales coaching, tags: individual sales coaching
How many times have you walked away from an appointment and wanted to just kick yourself in the behind. You got to the end of the appointment, the point where you needed to ask for the sale and your mouth was full of cotton your throat was so constricted you couldn’t breath and your heart was pounding so hard in your ears not only couldn’t you hear but you thought your ears would catch on fire at any second right there in front of everyone. Now you think the trouble started at this point, however, the problems really started from the beginning.
What is the first thing you need to do in any appointment? Introduce or re-introduce yourself to the prospect and establish rapport. The purpose of establishing rapport is to help the prospect to like you.
When you don’t take the time or make the effort to establish rapport you become an adversary rather than a trusted adviser. Have you ever been to a used car dealership? When my oldest son was shopping his first car we had an experience that demonstrates this perfectly. We drove on the lot, got out of the car, and walked over to a car that might have been an option. The sales guy walks up to me as we’re looking at the car and asks, “why don’t you buy it?”
What a stupid way to introduce himself and try and establish rapport. For some reason he thought he could start with the close. I was highly offended by such a ridiculous question, and immediately left the lot. I realize you don’t have this problem because you aren’t asking for the close at all, however, one reason you can’t ask for the close is because you know you haven’t established rapport with the prospect.
As you establish rapport you want to position yourself to partner with the prospect not to sell them. Let’s go back and revisit my son’s car buying experience and examine the sales experience with another sales person. This time we pulled into the lot, got out of the car, and started walking around looking for a potential car. The salesman comes over to my son and says, “I realize you’re probably just looking around at this point, however, I can help you narrow your search and save you some time if you can tell me what you’re looking for in a car.” He then says, “I’m pretty familiar with the inventory of the surrounding dealers, so if I don’t have what you need I can probably point you in the right direction.” Wow, what a difference!
This “salesperson” did not position himself as a salesperson at all, but rather as an assistant buyer. I’d suspect the first guy has skinny kids and this guy’s kids are well taken care of. Throughout the buying experience it was simply a matter of this not that, and when it came time to close it was another this not that choice. The salesman says to my son, “am I correct that this is the car that best suites your needs?” To which my sons responds positively. The sales person has established small agreements throughout the conversation, it’s obvious the buyer is highly motivated to buy, and their is trust and understanding between them. So, the sales person wraps it up with a bow by asking, “would you like to drive the car home with you now, or would you prefer I deliver it at a time and location convenient for you tomorrow?’ Final sale.
This not that works just as well with services as products.
- You start the relationship as the helper.
- You guide the prospect to make best choices.
- You clearly define the desired outcome.
- You establish a strong motivation to act and act now
- You provide choices for the “yes” decision
There isn’t any need to feel uncomfortable because you’re working together. They may reject a choice, but they aren’t rejecting you. You may discover they aren’t a match for you, however, when they are a match they aren’t afraid you’re going to push them into doing something they don’t want to do. Both you and the prospect are comfortable closing the sales because you’re helping them to get what they want.
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