Tactics – Scoring (Closing)

There are a number of reasons why a prospect might need to think it over at closing time. Some may be valid while some may simply be stalls, put-offs, excuses or objections, indicating that you didn’t uncover the real reason a decision was not made. However, there is one form of “think it over” that you can cause and it is very easy to prevent.

Last week we discussed one way of eliminating “think it overs” at closing time by eliminating options. This week I’ll discuss the way to handle the “think it overs” you might still get at closing time.

It’s less difficult to get from “no” to “yes” than it is to get from “maybe” to “yes”. In this edition I’ll explain why that is and what to do about it.

The last two weeks I’ve discussed asking great questions – two weeks ago, examples of great questions and then last week, a case history showing great questions in action. This week, I’ll combine great questions with another frequent topic, compelling reasons and discuss how to use your questioning ability and compelling reasons to get what you want.

A salesperson called on me and had a service that was new, but enticing. I thought I could use it, and when the product or service is something I want, I usually end up closing myself. I told the salesperson I was good to go but that since there were some complexities to the who, when, where and how, I asked him to put it in writing.

Our five year-old son, often the subject of my Sales Management Blog, gave me some more material yesterday. He said, “Daddy, I need to ask you something and if you want to say no you can, I don’t care, but I would really like you to help me.”

Sometimes, you need to create compelling reasons when your prospects don’t have compelling reasons of their own. An example from last week’s Boot Camp had a prospect whose most compelling reason seemed to be the need to get their systems serviced within four weeks. Important, but not compelling…until the the possibility exists that they may not be able get it done within four weeks…

This week I received a voice mail message from a professional sales trainer (at another firm). He wanted me to know that he used my technique for handling a think it over on his four most recent opportunities and it had worked on 3 out of the four. Before we get to the technique or lessons you should know this. It’s never the technique that actually overcomes a think it over, rather, it’s the technique that provides you with a crutch to hang in long enough so that you can learn why your prospect hasn’t made a decision yet. Once you know why, you can ask questions, eliminate obstacles, fears, and misunderstandings, and close again.

Unless you are in a business that is totally insulated from the economic meltdown, you’ve probably begun to hear objections that you aren’t accustomed to hearing; things like spending freezes, hiring freezes, projects put on hold, requests for price reductions, etc.