Sold! – Closing the Deal.
You’ve made it – you are at the “Closing Table” – confident that your next commission check will be just a little bit fatter. Careful – many a deal falls apart at this stage. Let’s walk through the process to help you avoid a few common mistakes.
Getting to the Closing Stage can only happen once you’ve made your way through the first two steps of the sales process: Building Relationships & Qualifying. People buy from people they Know, Like & Trust – when you’ve reached the closing stage you should also be at the Trust portion of the sales process.
At this stage in the process, prospects should be committed to giving you a decision. Providing an Up Front Contract at the start of the closing presentation will set the expectations for your meeting. The contract is comprised of 5 key points – Thanking them for their time, confirming the time expectations for the meeting, communicating your agenda, and stating what you hope to accomplish at the end of the meeting. You may not always get a decision at the end of the presentation, but the goal is to move it forward or out.
In stage two, you learned what the customer’s PAIN was and determined what solution you could provide. During your presentation, you should focus on their PAIN points – nothing more; nothing less. The prospect is interested in only how you can solve their problem, and that should be the focus of the sales meeting. You will want to address any hesitations by your potential client in this stage to avoid buyer’s remorse after a sale.
Congrats – you sold the deal! Time to celebrate – right? Not quite yet.
The last step is to follow up “Post-Sale”. When you follow up after the sale, you are reaffirming the relationship that you have built. These types of activities “lock up” the sale and further reduce buyer’s remorse. You don’t want to end up buying back what you sold today because you didn’t follow up tomorrow.
The “post sale” activities can give you the final push towards the Trusted Advisor role that you are striving for. You will have moved the relationship from just buyer-seller, to a partnership that is working towards a common goal and set yourself up for future sales or a referral. You always want the referral!
Can’t figure out the barrier that’s standing in the way of your Sales Process? The President’s Club can help identify the barriers to your success, and show you how to approach, deal, and overcome them.
Donna Bak
Senior Partner & Certified Trainer
Sandler Training / PEAK
Donna.bak@sandler.com
If you'd like to learn more about Donna on LinkedIn click here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/donnabak
