Before you can even think about closing a sale, there’s work you need to do first. Unless you have some incredible offer that’s just too good to pass up, you’ve got to get the fundamentals down first.
Do your due diligence. You need to put in enough time and effort to uncover the underlying factors that influence the sale:
- Build a relationship that establishes trust
- Fully explore your buyer’s problems or concerns
- Create a solution that will solve their problems
- Articulate the benefits of your product or service as it relates to the problems
- Overcome potential buyer objections
If you’ve done these sales techniques correctly, your closing ratio will go up significantly as long as you have properly pre-qualified the customer and you’re talking to the economic decision-maker.
How To Close A Deal: Sales Closing Techniques
Sometimes you do everything right and the potential customer still doesn’t agree to the deal. This is where various sales strategies can help you with closing the sale. They are designed to uncover the real objections that prevent deals from closing.
Here are 9 proven B2B sales closing techniques that work.
The Question
A lot of salespeople spend time getting the buyer right to the edge and never jump off. They hesitate to ask for the sale.
Sometimes the best approach is the direct approach. Don’t hesitate to ask for the sale. If you’ve brought the prospect through the buying funnel and answered their objections, this can help you get to the real obstacle. The sooner you know what their hesitation is, the better you can address it.
The Free Trial
If your product or service allows you to do so, the “Try it before you buy it” approach can be extremely effective for customers that are hesitant to commit.
The List
Make a list of the client’s objections. Ask them to help you put together the list. Review the list with them and ask if there’s anything else to add. Then go down the list one-by-one and try to answer them. When you get to the end and have addressed each concern, it makes it hard to say no.
If closing the sale doesn’t happen at this point, you’ll be able to zero in on what is stopping them for doing business with you.
The Pros and Cons
If the process gets stuck, try this. Take out a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. Let them know you’re going to help them by making a pro and con list. Start the conversation by listing the benefits of your product. Make the list as long as you can and ask them to help. When that’s done, ask the customer to come up with the negatives and then be quiet. Don’t help them. Let them come up with the list.
There will always be more pros than cons on the list. A visual representation carries some weight. It will also help you find the real objectives, break them down, and allow you to tackle them one at time. You might even want to cross them off as you overcome them!
The Negotiated Close
Once you’ve overcome the majority of objections and feel like things are moving your way, another effective approach is to reposition any remaining issues as extremely minor.
When you’re down to those last nagging issues that stop the process or facing one of those customers that just want to grind you down, just wave them off. “I don’t see anything to worry about here,” you might say. “Let’s sign the deal and we’ll hammer out these last minor issues next week.”
The Silent Treatment
When trying the wrap up a sale, one of the most powerful sales closing techniques you can use is silence. Ask for the sale outright and then keep your mouth shut. Sit quietly – no matter how long it takes – and don’t talk until they do.
It can be uncomfortable until you’ve done it a few times. Practice, role-playing, and sales training can make using the silent treatment easier.
The Choices
No matter what you do, the customer is always in control because you can’t close the deal until they say yes. You can reinforce this by reminding them it is their choice and let them know they are making a good decision.
When making big decisions, getting affirmative answers to small decisions along the way can help lead them to saying yes to the big decision. You might ask if they would prefer the medium or large bundle, the maintenance agreement or standard warranty, or the gold or platinum version.”
The Scale of 1 to 10
Asking your prospect whether they are leaning towards or away from committing can help you understand if you’re getting close to a deal or whether there’s a long road ahead. You can ask them to rank their level of interest on a scale between 1 and 10.
Follow-up by asking them what it takes to get to 10. When they state their objections, the follow-up to that is asking if taking care of that objection will get you to 10. Tackle issues one at a time until you clear them.
The Conditional Close
After you’ve identified all of the objections and successfully navigated through them, some B2B buyers are still resistant to sign on. When it’s down to the last hurdle, the conditional close can come in handy. You might suggest one final concession. If the issue is price, for example, ask if you can get the price to the level the buyer wants, are they willing to sign right now? If you can meet their price and they still won’t commit, you probably missed something else along the way.
How To Close A Deal
Before you try any of these sales strategies, it helps to test drive them first. Consider role-playing with a colleague or taking sales training to hone your sales techniques.
The art of the sale is still about finding the right solution to the right problem at the right price. If you can gain their trust and make them believe you have that solution, you can earn their business.
