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1/ Closing is the single most overrated tactic in sales. A focus on closing gets a few BIG things wrong about the purpose of selling and how people buy.
2/ Let& #39;s start with how people buy. Most people make decisions primarily based on emotion, then rationalize them. If they& #39;re not emotionally invested by the time you reach "the close" then there& #39;s no sale.
3/ And even if you were to be so persuasive that you close a reluctant prospect, imagine what downstream effects that& #39;s going to have on the delivery side of your business.
4/ Congrats - you just closed someone reluctant to work with you based on fabricated urgency or other undue, manufactured pressure.
Should it really be that hard to sell?
Should it really be that hard to sell?
5/ If it is, then you& #39;re probably selling to the wrong person, have a shitty product, or are unnecessarily rushing the sale because you want it to happen faster and you have insufficient pipeline. Oops.
6/ Then there& #39;s the purpose of the sales process. Now my bias will really emerge. The purpose of the sale isn& #39;t to sell. I know, your brain just caved in on itself. Bear with me, and you& #39;ll be glad you did.
7/ The purpose of the sale is to help qualified buyers make informed decisions.
If someone should buy from you, tell them. If you& #39;re not sure, tell them why. And if they shouldn& #39;t buy from you, find out as fast as possible and politely give them alternative.
If someone should buy from you, tell them. If you& #39;re not sure, tell them why. And if they shouldn& #39;t buy from you, find out as fast as possible and politely give them alternative.
8/ That& #39;s the purpose of the sale. Internalize this, and you& #39;ll feel a hell of a lot better about every single deal. Promise.
So if not closing, what should you do instead?
So if not closing, what should you do instead?
9/ Let& #39;s first evaluate - what is closing, anyway? It& #39;s a short-term focus on a singular moment in a process that stretches over hours, days, weeks, months, or even years.
10/ Closing is just a moment in time, whereas the sale itself is a collection of conversations and actions by you and your prospect.
Translation: closing is only 1% of the process.
Translation: closing is only 1% of the process.
11/ The decision itself is quite important - more than 1%, obviously - but only a small fraction of the time you put into the sale. What about the other 99% of the time?
12/ That& #39;s where the leverage is. Finding your clients motivation - their pain, goals, and the emotional and business value they& #39;d get from buying - is far more important than any magic word or tactic you could employ to close.
Those tactics are sleazy, too.
Those tactics are sleazy, too.
13/ Instead, tell a story of transformation. Where your prospect is now, why it& #39;s so bad, how things can be different, and what you& #39;ll do to help them achieve it. Focus on that, and closing tactics might just disappear from your mind altogether.
14/ If you& #39;d like to learn more about how your process so closing becomes obsolete, check out the article I have on #salesprocess here: http://servedontsell.com/sds-method ">https://servedontsell.com/sds-metho...
