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Friday, December 18, 2009
Best Sales Practices: Closing the Sale
Today sales trainer Dave Kahle shares the best practices of the nation's top closers - and you know they're not using manipulative closing techniques. Read on for closing tips you can feel good about, and confident implementing.
Unfortunately, there is no one issue that is more misunderstood and incompetently trained than that of "closing the sale." Much of the sales training on the subject, as well as the vast preponderance of sales literature, is way off the mark.
Closing is not a matter of continually pressing for the business, nor using manipulative techniques, nor clever repartee, nor memorizing any "magic" closes.
Just today I said "no" to someone who kept pressing me for the order. I interpreted his pressure as desperation on his part, and his desperation meant that there was something not right about the deal. I said "no." In this case, the highly trained, very skilled salesperson, with the right product at the right price, did exactly the wrong thing, and brought about a negative result, solely on the basis of his poor judgment about the customer, and his repeated attempts to close the sale.
When it comes to closing, the best salespeople do two things. In the traditional sense, they ask for the order when they sense that the customer is close to committing to a decision. This has always been the classic definition of closing the sale.
But in the hands of a master, closing takes on a larger meaning. Sales masters also understand that "closing" is more than an event that gets tagged onto the tail end of the sales process. They understand that "closing" is the process of attaining an agreement with the customer on the action that the customer will take as a result of every interaction. They have the mindset that every sales call - whether 45 seconds on the phone, or 90 minutes in the customer's office - always should end with some agreement on the next step.
The process of closing, then, starts with the first "Hello" and continues through every interaction that the salesperson has with the customer.
So, confirming an appointment is a mode of closing. As is gaining a commitment to view a presentation, test a sample, research other users, etc. The best salespeople continually seek, and obtain, commitment from the customer to take action at every step along the way.
As a result, the final decision to buy the product or service is a natural, logical result of all the commitments (closes) that went before.
The best salespeople are continually and effectively closing every conversation with the customer. That's why this is a best practice of the best salespeople.
Dave Kahle is the President of the DaCo Corporation, specializing in helping business-to-business companies increase sales and develop their people. Learn more at www.davekahle.com
Yesterday sales trainer Dave Kahle gave us some excellent advice on how we can reduce how often we hear the price objection. He's back today with a few more ideas - try some out next week and let us know how they work for you! 4. Don't advertise your willingness to discount.
Sometimes, in our eagerness to make the sale, we advertise our willingness to make price concessions in order to secure the business. We say things like, "We'd be happy to discuss pricing with you." Or, "We may be able to do better." Or, "If you give me the last look, I may be able to sharpen the pencil."
I was shopping for office space. As I looked through one location with my realtor, I asked the listing realtor what was the lease rate. He told me, and in the same breath said, "But we're willing to work with you on that."
After hearing that, why in the world would I accept his original terms? He broadcasted his willingness to discount, and I'd be foolish not to take him up on it. By broadcasting your willingness to get the deal, you encourage the customer to ask for price deviations.
5. Be careful about ever discounting
If you discount your prices in response to a customer's request, on even one occasion, you have conveyed to the customer the idea that your quoted price is not your final price. Now, forever in the future, the customer will remember that you can discount when pressed. He will, therefore, press for discounts.
If, however, you never discount from your quoted price, you convey that there is some integrity in your pricing, and that you are quoting him your best price from the beginning.
It's OK, on some occasions, to walk away from a piece of business rather than to discount in order to get it. The net impact is that the customer respects your pricing, and is less likely in the future to ask for a discount.
If you get almost every deal, your prices aren't sufficiently high. You need to lose some in order to gain the customer's respect as well as a sense of where the market price is.
I've often thought that the idea of asking for the opportunity for a "last look" - which most salespeople strive for and proudly proclaim as proof of a good business relationship - is merely another way of saying that you'll discount the most. Why would the customer give you a "last look" if he wasn't expecting you to discount some more?
It's so easy to complain about the customer and the constant pressure to reduce our prices. It's the thoughtful salesperson who understands that our own behavior can often be the cause of the price objection. Change your behavior, and you'll improve your results.
Dave Kahle is the President of the DaCo Corporation, specializing in helping business-to-business companies increase sales and develop their people. Learn more at www.davekahle.com
How many times have you heard a price objection in the last few weeks? With the economy the way it is, you've probably heard it even more than usual. Dave Kahle has some advice to help you reduce how often you hear it.
"While we can't control our customers, we can control our behavior," says Kahle. "And many times it's our behavior that prompts the customer to ask for a discount. By changing our behavior, we can impact the customer. Here are five specific strategies to help you prevent the price objection, by focusing on our behavior."
1. Look like you are worth more
Our appearance impacts the customer's subconscious view of our value. If we look like we don't value ourselves, it's natural for the customer to assume the same about our product.
I will never forget a salesperson for one of my clients who came to see me, concerned about the pressure his company was putting on him to get results. He chewed tobacco and had the yellow teeth and spots on the leather vest he wore to confirm that. A wrinkled pair of blue jeans topped a pair of dusty cowboy boots. He looked like a reject from a consignment shop. His appearance screamed "cheap."
If you look confident, competent and successful, you send the subtle message to your customer that you, and your offering, is worth a little more. You just look like you are less likely to discount your price in order to get the order. Practically speaking, that means to dress like your customer, only a little better. Project a demeanor of a successful, confident salesperson. 2. Believe in your price/value relationship
Do you believe that your offer represents a good value to the customer? If you don't, it will be difficult for you to convince the customer of it. You don't have to believe that your product is the best or that your company is the best. You just have to believe that it is a good value, giving the customer his or her money's worth. More people buy Fords than buy BMWs. It's not about being the best; it's about a good value.
This can be difficult if you, in your personal life, are a bargain shopper. If you refuse to pay the asking price for anything and won't buy it if it's not on sale, then you'll have a difficult time convincing your customer to pay the full price for what you are selling.
Your core beliefs will influence your behavior, and be communicated to the customer in a number of subtle ways.
To counteract that tendency, carefully examine the offer you are making from the customer's point of view. Do whatever it takes to convince yourself that it is a good value to the customer, worth every penny the customer will pay.
3. Don't inadvertently sow the seeds.
Sometimes we can blindly sow the seeds of discontent with our stated price by our poor choice of language. For example, when we say things like, "This is our retail price," "This is our rack rate," "This is list price," or other such terms, we immediately convey to the customer that there are other, lower prices, available.
We have inadvertently encouraged the customer to ask for a discount. The word "price" doesn't need an adjective to describe it.
We'll be back tomorrow with a few more ideas from Kahle on how you can avoid the price objection.
Dave Kahle is the President of the DaCo Corporation, specializing in helping business-to-business companies increase sales and develop their people. Learn more at www.davekahle.com
The best sports legends have always been those that took their talent and developed it, day in and day out. Practice is what made them successful, and it's the same for top sales professionals. This story from sales trainer Dave Kahle is a perfect example.
"Having spent most of my adult life in Michigan, I have naturally grown to be a fan of the Detroit professional sports teams," says Kahle. "Basketball is my favorite, and I've been a Pistons fan since before the Bad Boys. As you may know, the Bad Boys were world champions for a couple of years in the 80's. Isaiah Thomas was the leader of the team. He was at the top of his game - most valuable player on the world championship team."
"During that time, he built a house in Detroit, and added an indoor basketball court. When asked about it by a local newspaper reporter, he replied that he often woke up in the middle of the night and used the basketball court to practice his free throws."
"Imagine that. The most valuable player of the world championship team practicing the most basic shot in the game in the middle of the night. Why would he do that? Probably because he was not a 100 percent free throw shooter. No matter how good he was, he knew there was room for improvement, and that he could become better yet."
"That belief, that you are not as good as you could be, that there is always room for improvement, is one of the marks of the best salespeople," says Kahle.
"The world is full of mediocre salespeople who don't care enough about their own performance to spend any time or money improving themselves. My own experience is that only one out of twenty salespeople has spent $25 of their own money on their own improvement in the last 12 months."
"While that certainly is an indictment of their lack of professionalism, it also represents an incredible opportunity for those who want to excel. Image how competent you could become, relative to your competitors, if you regularly spent time, money and effort improving your sales skills! What an opportunity!"
Vince Lombardi once said, "We will pursue perfection, knowing that we will never attain it. But in the striving for perfection, we will catch excellence." "The best salespeople continually pursue perfection, knowing that in the striving for it, they will catch excellence," says Kahle. "And excellence is rewarded by greater competence, greater confidence, and a more robust standard of living."
Dave Kahle is the President of the DaCo Corporation, specializing in helping business-to-business companies increase sales and develop their people. Learn more at www.davekahle.com
Yesterday we talked about the importance of building rapport with your clients and sales trainer Dave Kahle offered up some advice on how to build rapport with anyone. Today, Kahle is back with a few more tips to help you build rapport and make more sales!
4. Use a sincere compliment
Everyone likes to be complimented. When you sincerely compliment a customer (or his company), you communicate that you are interested in him/her, that you have noticed something they do that stands out, and that you aren't afraid to say something complimentary. Those are all good things.
5. Ask a perceptive question
A perceptive question, asked with sincerity, does everything that a compliment does and then some. When the compliment doesn't call for any response from the customer, a question does. If done correctly, it can initiate the conversation and help the customer feel like you are interested and care about him.
6. Indicate a personal connection
If you have something in common with the customer, mention it. You don't have to beat it to death, just mention it. When the customer discovers that you both know the same person, went to the same school, vacationed in the same place, or belong to the same organization, he realizes that you are alike in some ways. It's easier to do business with someone who is like you.
7. Tell a short personal story
It doesn't have to be a major digression, but a short story about something personal is a great rapport builder. Something like this:
"Boy, I had a hard time getting here on time. I must have run over some glass or something sharp, because about half way here, my right front tire went flat. Took me a while to change it. Glad I made it on time."
That's short, it's personal, and it's a bit transparent because it reveals something about you, as a human being. And, it's something to which everyone can relate.
"Building rapport is a science with proven practices and tactics," says Kahle. "Use any of these techniques and watch your ability to create rapport improve, and thereby smooth out the way to more sales."
Dave Kahle is the President of the DaCo Corporation, specializing in helping business-to-business companies increase sales and develop their people. Learn more at www.davekahle.com
Rapport : An emotional bond or friendly relationship between people based on mutual liking, trust and a sense that they understand and share each other's concerns.
Many people think building rapport means some small talk about the weather or football before launching into a sales pitch. No way! Just like the definition says, rapport is much more than that. Rapport is creating a relationship based on more than just selling the client - it's based on truly caring for them as a person, and always making them feel comfortable. This is an important skill that the best salespeople have mastered - and sales trainer Dave Kahle has the tips you need to do the same.
1. Pay attention to your appearance.
People will form an impression of you, based on how you look, before they even say hello to you. Your appearance, then, should be designed to help you look confident and competent - whatever that means in your market. At a minimum, that means clothes clean and pressed, shoes shined and hair cut.
Your attire should help you connect with the customer - not separate you from him. For example, if you are calling on production supervisors, you ought not to wear a suit and tie, as that will separate you from them, and generate a bit of discomfort in them.
The best rule I've seen is this: Dress like your customer, only a little better. On several occasions, I have worked with sales forces who sold to farmers. Blue jeans and flannel shirts are ok, as long as they are clean and pressed blue jeans, and a better quality flannel shirt.
2. Try an occasional bit of disarming honesty
In routine interchanges, say something that the customer is not expecting. For example, when he says, "How are you?" instead of the perfunctory "Fine," try something like this: "Honestly, my day didn't get off to a good start. One of the kids was sick this morning, and I was a half hour late getting out of the house. How are you?"
It's disarming because it was unexpected. And, it's honest, reveals something about you, and describes a situation with which almost everyone can relate. A good way to build rapport.
3. Humor
If you are one of those people who can make people laugh most of the time, then you are equipped with a powerful rapport-building asset. There is something about laughing together that breaks down some of the barriers between people and removes some of the tension. It's a great way to build rapport.
If you are not one of those people so gifted, then it's better to stay away from this. Telling a joke that nobody gets, or having a glib comment being seen as sarcastic or caustic is not a good way to build rapport.
Tomorrow we'll focus on four more tips from Dave Kahle to help you establish rapport with anyone. See you then!
Dave Kahle is the President of the DaCo Corporation, specializing in helping business-to-business companies increase sales and develop their people. Learn more at www.davekahle.com
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Name: Editor: Kelly McLean
Location: Carlsbad, CA, United States
SalesDog.com, the internet's number one sales success destination for more than seven years, works with America's leading sales experts to bring practical selling tips and strategies to salespeople, sales managers, business owners and entrepreneurs. Over 30,000 sales professionals rely on its free weekly newsletter to keep them abreast of cutting-edge developments impacting their profession.
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