Closing The Sale

Closing the sale is perhaps the most important aspect in business. When there’s a sale, there’s revenue for your business. Many will says that the operation, human resource, product development is important. Yes, they are. But without sales, all the above can’t function. Or put it this way, without sales there’s no need for all the above.

So as a business owner, sales is a skill you must learn. Sales skill is so important especially to a business owner. As the owner, you don’t only sell to your customers, you sell to everybody. Don’t you have to sell to your staff, your team, suppliers? And of course your customers as well!

When I first started doing sales, frankly speaking, I sucks. I thought as long as I’m passionate about the products, I should be doing well. (That’s what all the sales books say right?) But really I was lousy in sales.

Most of the time I was babbling non-stop. I never gave any chance for the customers to air their view. I will share so much about the benefit of the product that I forgot to enroll them. In fact, I didn’t know what is “enrolling” then.

Because of me babbling all the way, I didn’t bother to find out what the customers’ needs. It’s about me trying so hard to promote the product, thinking that everybody should own this product. I go crazy why people can walk away without buying that super duper product that can benefit them.

I didn’t know how to handle objection thrown at me. When customers said “no”, I responded, but in a way that didn’t sound too convincing. Sometimes I may even become too defensive over the product, which didn’t help in closing either. And I was unaware.

I didn’t know how to close a sale. No doubt I was full of passion, but I don’t have the skill to close the sale. Fortunately it didn’t take me a long time to discover that I’m suck. This awareness allowed me to start learning about sales from books, seminars and mentors.

I learn about the sales process, different techniques etc. That’s when my sales started to improve. One of the sales guru I learned from is Brian Tracy. I learned a lot from CD, 21 Great Ways to Become a Sales Superstar. Currently Brian Tracy is offering this CD for free.

One of the lessons I’ve learned is to ask a closing question when you need to close. Many sales people doesn’t know how to ask that question. There are many ways to ask that closing question. You can also ask them in many different situation.

The distinction is not to ask too early. The timing of asking is so important. Asking too early will result in objection. Asking too late means pissing off your customers. As a customer myself, sometimes I’m so ready to buy, but the salesperson continue to go on and on without closing me.

When a customer become impatient, try to rush you through your presentation. It means two things. You are a boring salesperson, they are rushing for time, or they are already sold before you can finish.

Take note you have to sense your customer if they are ready for that closing question. This sensing part comes with experience. It can’t be taught, you just have to practice till you get it.

One tip here is to ask the closing question after you handle the objection. If a customer bother to throw an objection to you, it means they may be interested. If you handle that objection well, there is a high chance they will buy. So close them at that moment.

It works for me most of the time. After I handle their objection, I will follow by one or two questions. “Do I answer your question?” They will usually nod their head. Then I will ask, “Which dates is suitable for you?” This is the closing question.

I’m not saying it’s always works, but it increase my closing ratio.

At some cases, closing question may not be closing the sales. It may be moving the sales process to the next level or getting a small commitment from the customer.

For example, in one of the sales presentation I was doing, the clients requested to integrate our training to their corporate theme. I took the opportunity to ask them to take a small step by asking them to send their corporate theme to us.

I get them to make a small commitment by taking some form of action. If they are willing to send, it means they are willing to work with us. Think about this, if you screw up in your presentation, they wouldn’t even bother to send you anything.

Sales is an important part of business. Closing is a very important part in sales. Learn to be effective in sales, and your income will be limitless. Take this opportunity to learn from Brian Tracy, get his FREE CD, 21 Great Ways to Become a Sales Superstar