The most prominent error entrepreneurs and salespeople can make is failing to ask for a sale. This seems obvious on the surface, right? So why does it occur so regularly in the sales world?
In sales, closing can make or break a deal. So it’s crucial to pick the appropriate sales closing phrases or words to close a sale. And this point will probably determine whether or not your efforts will be worthwhile in the end.
Many salespeople worry about the close, including you. Successfully closing a transaction wouldn’t be as exciting without that sense of risk, though, and it motivates salespeople to push themselves constantly.
Many closing sales strategies have been created since sales professionals are expected to produce the highest win rates for their effort.
Sales closing is a form of art, and like all art forms, it evolves with time. To understand what it means to close like a boss in the modern world, we’ll move past outmoded and ineffectual tactics and speak with sales professionals.
What is Sales Closing?
Sales teams meet their quotas when they close sales, convincing prospects to accept a deal and sign a contract. This is also how firms increase their revenue.
It stands for the fruit of all your labors. You invested the time and effort necessary to convince the prospect that your solution can ease their pain points. The time has come to determine whether this prospect is prepared to commit after you popped the question with a sales proposition.
It takes a lot of perseverance and patience to reach that yes. Prospects frequently respond with no before responding with yes. The issue is that many salespeople give up before getting that affirmative response.
Sales closing is the most critical stage in the sales cycle pipeline, but it isn’t the only one, as we’ll explain more. Either you make closing, or you don’t. One of the most stressful aspects of selling might result from the make-or-break nature of sales closing, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Check out what is churn rate.
How to Close the Deal
First and foremost, it is essential to have a well-structured content marketing plan. Before enticing a prospect, you must have a laid down marketing plan to sell yourself to the prospect before selling your product or service.
The crucial step in the sales cycle is closing a deal. A salesperson works toward this end goal with all they do. However, a strategy is among the best methods to get there.
Here is a step-by-step instruction on how to close a deal:
Step One: Do Your Research
You must comprehend your firm and your prospect to be effective. So, doing research is the first step.
Make sure you are knowledgeable about the company’s offerings and the benefits they might provide your potential client. Additionally, you want to know which of your goods or services your prospect will find most useful. You don’t want to lose the customer by pitching the incorrect product. By getting to know your prospects, you can determine which offers are the most excellent fits for them.
Even though the point of contact is an excellent place to start, you should try to go beyond. Try to talk to other employees in the company, especially those in different departments, to gain insight into their varied viewpoints and how they identify the company’s pain points. You will learn more about the demands of the business and how your goods or services can aid them in achieving their goals through these discussions. Check out the difference between prospect and lead.
Step Two: Mention Timelines and Budgets
You wish to gain clarity on timeframes and budgets for this stage. Before offering prospects a demonstration of the product or service, this should be completed. This can help you determine whether they are prepared to buy right away or later.
It makes sense to commit time now if they are prepared to buy. If not, you can come back when they’re prepared.
Step Three: Provide Solutions
Avoid promoting your goods and services. Instead, present solid answers to the prospect’s business pain point. Prospects who are shown what you can do for them will benefit more over time because your interaction will be personalized to meet their unique demands. In addition, this makes it easier for them to understand how your goods and services meet their wants.
It is also essential to ensure the prospective company or client is on the same page with you by using “feedback loops” when discussing a particular aspect of your service.
Step Four: Ask for a Verbal Agreement
When you’ve identified a prospect’s buying intent and have prepared your closing strategy, be direct and utilize remarks and questions to get a non-binding verbal commitment from the prospect to purchase your good or service. While a phone call is usually used, email can also be used for this. This question typically results in the buyer expressing their willingness to proceed and form a partnership.
The questions and comments that will help you ask for the sale are listed below:
- Sales Transition Statements: First, employ a transitional sentence to go from comments about your product or service to the ultimate conclusion. “Let’s speak details,” “Let’s evaluate all you’ve told me so far,” and “It appears like product or service will work nicely for you” are a few examples.
- Sales Closing Questions: After that, use a clever inquiry to ascertain your prospect’s comfort level and uncover any obstacles. For instance, “Are you prepared to buy?” and “What’s holding you back?” Do you want my assistance with this goal/pain point?
The key to answering these questions and making these remarks is to be straightforward. Being direct need not entail being aggressive. Sending a legally binding agreement should be done once the prospect confirms. If they reject you, attempt to figure out why and go through their reservations.
Step Five: Send the Proposal and Contract
Send the buyer a legally binding agreement outlining the conditions of the sale since you are confident that they are ready to begin a business relationship. For example:
“Text Message Service: Speed Reach reserves the right to end any Text Message Service, including your participation in it, at any time, with or without prior notice, including, for example, before you have received any or all messages that you would have otherwise received. In any case, these Terms and Conditions will still be in effect. Data rates and message fees apply. Msg frequency varies. The Text Message Service automatically delivers several, recurring messages unless otherwise stated. You can text HELP in response to a text message to request assistance with any Text Message Service, and you can text STOP to withdraw your consent.“
The typical format for this is a written or digital contract, but it could alternatively take the shape of a business proposal that also serves as a contract.
This helps move the deal forward with a timeline for it to be reviewed and returned as a signed contract. The prospect’s signature on the final document, which should declare that it is a legally binding agreement, will signal that the sale is complete. Check out the guidelines for how to set up an ideal customer profile.
Step Six: Handle Objections
Clients-to-be may have reservations or objections. You should not only have a plan for how you will respond to this, but you also need to be careful not to dismiss their concerns. Show them that you are aware of their perspective. They may feel closer to you as a result.
Looking back at previous objections that either you or your sales team have encountered is wise advice. This will enable you to have the appropriate responses.
Step Seven: Request the Sale
Ask for the sale if you believe the prospect’s questions have been addressed and they are aware of the solutions you provide. You should make a compelling argument and restate the answer you are presenting to them. It’s critical to sound competent and assured without sounding conceited.
Step Eight: Set Up Next Steps
Set up some next steps regardless of whether you close the sale.
If you are successful, complete the paperwork and give the client the details they require to suitably utilize your goods and services. Following the delivery of your goods or completing your service, you should follow up to see if the client has encountered any problems.
Your calls and emails shouldn’t monopolize the time of your prospects. Keep phone calls to 10 minutes and emails to 120 words. Maintain adding value: You shouldn’t stop showcasing your value even if it’s the closing phase. Include helpful articles or industry insights in your follow-up emails after your original query.
Schedule a follow-up meeting to continue developing your lead if you didn’t successfully close the deal.
Extra 1:
Most prospects are only willing to discuss the very surface of the iceberg. But you require a far more profound understanding of what is occurring. The secret to closing a sale is to use impromptu questions to get to know the prospect better and better. These inquiries will finally enable you to comprehend what is happening in their universe (even better than they do!).
Extra 2:
Insight is the first stage in closing a sales contract. The conversation you have with prospects must be earned. Not merely a terrific conversation is yours to have. The secret is insight.
In today’s world of selling, a lot of salespeople are concentrating on prospect qualifications and asking plenty of questions.
Salespeople must prove their knowledge in order to merit that discussion. Here’s where wisdom first enters the picture. You must convince the prospect that you are a legitimate expert who can help them expand their company.
Sales Closing Techniques
A sale can be closed in a variety of ways. Depending on the prospect you’re speaking with, and what they need, your strategy will change. But this carefully curated collection of tried-and-true closing techniques offers a guide for what tactics to use and when.
- Now or Never Closes
- Demonstration closes
- Summary Closes
- Sharp Angle Closes
- 1-2-3 Closes
- Question Closes
- Assumptive Close
- Takeaway Close
- Weekly Cost Closes
- Soft Closes
- Testimonial Closes
- Puppy Dog Closes
- Scale Closes
Now or Never Closes
Now or never close is also referred to as scarcity close.
Here, salespeople present a deal with a unique perk intended to spur a quick purchase. For instance:
- “I can fast-track you up the implementation queue quickly if you agree to buy now.
- We’re offering a 20% discount to new clients who sign the contract today.
- “The last one at this pricing is this one.
This tactic is effective because it instills a sense of urgency and can assist a prospect overcome inertia when they are ready to buy but, for some reason, aren’t making the purchase. It’s also a tried-and-true technique for making a sale via phone calls because you have their full focus at the moment. Of course, before providing a discount or promotion, the value should always be established.
The scarcity sales close, often referred to as the now-or-never close, uses good olf FOMO (fear of missing out) to persuade a customer to buy. You entice potential customers with a discount or an extra perk, but only if they take immediate action and make a purchase. This mostly works when the potential customer is honest about wanting to buy but only needs a little prodding. Also, check out B2B sales, SaaS sales and tech sales.
Demonstration Closes
Some individuals are more visually focused. As a result, you might offer a demo of the product or service to prospects who are reluctant to buy, especially if they don’t understand it completely. They will be able to understand exactly how your service or product operates thanks to this, and it may even help them picture how it would work for their business requirements.
For instance:
- This will enable you to build a website that is more dynamic. Allow me to illustrate.
- It can be challenging to picture how this product operates. I’ll demonstrate the product features to you.
Summary Close
The goal of this closing strategy is to persuade the prospect to sign by emphasizing the value and benefits of the things the client is ideally buying. For instance:
“So, in addition to the Hisense air conditioning machine with Inverter, our free delivery, and installation service, we also offer a 24-month full guarantee. What time would be ideal for delivery?”
You may help prospects understand what they will receive from the deal by condensing agreed-upon elements previously into one impressive bundle.
When your lead merely needs a quick reminder of everything they previously agreed would be beneficial to them, and you are confident that your product is a good fit.
Sharp Angle Closes
This tactic, in contrast to other closing techniques, depends on your customer. They might request a discount or add-on if they are intrigued and intend to buy your good or service. This is your chance to take swift action. If you accept their offer, you ought to demand something in return.
Prospects frequently request price reductions or add-ons since they know their advantage and understand that you anticipate them. To catch these prospects off guard, use the sharp angle closing technique if your sales manager has given the go-ahead.
If they inquire, “Could you put on a few extra hours of onboarding at a discounted fee?” reply, “Sure, but will you, however, sign the contract today if I do it for you?” Because you complied with their request and suggested closing today, they probably won’t have anticipated this response.
1-2-3 Closes
This method is comparable to the summary close. You are summarizing the characteristics and advantages of the product in both instances. However, you want to showcase the product’s strengths in sets of three for the 1-2-3 close.
It doesn’t draw as much attention as other techniques, but it relies on the idea that grouping things into three sets can result in a potent message. To highlight the significance of a feature, you can either concentrate on three related aspects or list out three distinct topics to demonstrate the breadth of coverage.
Using this closing technique, you could say something like:
- “With our product, you’ll expand your business more quickly, effectively, and steadily.”
- “We’ll throw in free shipping, installation, and support if you make a purchase today.”
NOTE:
Make sure to keep track of all the data you get at this point in a CRM software like Sloovi. While the information might not seem immediately helpful, keeping track of a prospect’s concerns can help you streamline your operations and clinch more deals.
CRM software makes those dreaded tasks disappear. How? Ensuring clients receive personalized marketing text messages. It also helps the business and its clients receive recurring automated promotional content.
Question Closes
As soon as a conversation with a prospect starts, effective salespeople concentrate on making a sale. Then, through a succession of inquiries, they arouse the client’s desire and dispel all barriers to buying.
Even better, a question can be used to close the sale, allowing the salesperson to simultaneously answer any remaining concerns and secure a commitment.
For instance, “Do you think what I’m offering resolves your problem?”
While keeping the door open for more selling, the inquiry enables you to determine whether the prospect is convinced of your product. If the response is “no,” their opinion—which is still unproven—remains, allowing you to carry on with your business. Next, sign on the dotted line if the response is “yes.”
“Is there anything that would prevent us from moving forward with the shipment?”
This inquiry seeks resolution or further details regarding the customer’s lack of conviction. Both sides win because it could also make them understand they don’t have any further concerns and are prepared to acquire.
Answering their concerns with a question allows you to reassure them that your offering will satisfy their needs.
Use question closings to answer the prospect’s objections and reassure them that your offering will benefit them.
Study and understand sales questions to avoid seeming off-putting.
Assumptive Close
An approach used in sales to seal a deal is the assumptive close. The salesperson closes the deal by using words that suggest they are prepared to proceed since they assume the prospect has already decided to buy. For example, when making an assumptive close, a salesperson can ask, “When should we start implementation?”
When on a sales call to prospects as though you have closed the sale, this closing technique is the assumptive selling close. This tactic should only be used when you are confident that your target is not on the fence because it can be unsettling to some people.
Assumptive selling is frequently viewed as aggressive or manipulative, and these perceptions are not entirely unfounded. If your assumption that they’ll buy is incorrect, you might actually convince a prospect who’s on the fence to leave.
This closing method makes use of the strength of positive thinking. It can hugely impact the remainder of the sales process if you think you will complete this purchase from the first email outreach. –
Pay great attention to your prospect’s mind, interest, engagement, and objections at all times.
Do you feel that this presentation met your expectations after a sales call or meeting? Ask them if they have any questions if you have just given them new details about your good or service. For example, “Does this sound like something your business would find useful? Does this resolve a particular issue or need?”
You’ll give your sales process power and direction that would not otherwise be there by having an open mind and presuming goodwill from the outset.
Another example: “Send me your financial information, and I’ll get the paperwork ready now.” The worst option is undoubtedly this one. They might divulge their information in the unlikely event that they are prepared to make a purchase. But if they aren’t prepared to buy then, they are now forced to explain to the salesperson why they don’t want to give out private information, which is awkward and annoying.
The secret to preventing these unfavorable emotions is to monitor the prospect’s comfort level at all times during the sales session. The assumptive close won’t make a person who isn’t going to buy suddenly change their mind; in other words, if they aren’t already interested in what you’re offering, it won’t work.
Takeaway Close
This sales tactic, also referred to as reverse psychology, takes advantage of people’s desire for goods they cannot obtain. Mention that their company “may not qualify for your solution like other organizations have” or that your solution “may not be a good fit” for them. Because you’re going against what a salesperson generally does, which is selling, the prospect won’t anticipate the takeaway close, which makes it effective.
This strategy, like the scarcity close or now or never close, only works if the prospect has already expressed interest in your goods but hasn’t made a purchase decision.
Weekly Cost Closes
Sometimes the only factor in closing the business is the price. If you give someone a price for the year, they might think the cost is high. However, dividing the price into weekly or even daily increments may contrast it with an ordinary purchase.
For illustration, you might claim that a service’s cost is comparable to daily coffee purchases. From there, it is simple to argue that for just a few bucks per day, you are giving them a service that is of immeasurable value.
Soft Close
By demonstrating the advantages of your product to potential customers, you may then offer a gentle query to see if they’re interested in knowing more.
For instance, “Would you be interested in learning more if I could cut widget maintenance by 25% and boost widget productivity by 15%?”
You’ve stated the advantages in detail without putting forth any obtrusive or unexpected requests.
Testimonial Close
There’s a reason why companies include client testimonials on their websites: they are highly compelling and help potential customers understand what to anticipate from your good or service. With a testimonial close, you rely on a customer’s glowing reviews to win over a potential consumer.
You could say something like, “Since you’re interested in increasing the traffic to your business, I want to give you a message from one of our clients who explains how our product helped them increase their traffic by 45% over the period of a few months.”
Puppy Dog Closes
This sales closing tactic assumes that if a pet shop offered to let you “try a puppy out” and take it home for a few days, you would fall in love with it and never return it. So instead, offer a no-obligation free trial of your goods to complete the sales deal. The idea is that after a brief test drive, the potential client will discover your product to be so vital that they won’t be able to leave with it.
Scale Closes
The gauge closure is another name for this. By asking a prospect directly how interested they are in your goods, you can get a sense of their interest level. (For example, “How likely are you to proceed with purchasing? On a scale of one to 10, where one is “Let’s end this conversation now” and ten is “Let’s get this solution implemented on Monday”).
There are two things the scale closes: It tells you whether you’ve been able to persuade people of the benefits of your product and gives you a chance to address any objections they might not have previously voiced.
“I believe that curiosity is essential. Francois Carle, a strategic account executive at Schneider Electric with 28 years of sales experience, advised people always to ask questions. “You must be interested in what they are attempting to do and probe further to learn about their difficulties. If you’re not paying attention, a sales conversation risks ending in silence.
What to Do After You Close the Sale
It’s time to celebrate after you close a deal! But before you give your team a high-five, remember to wrap up any loose ends. Here are a few pointers on what to do next when the sales deal is closed.
Record the transaction in your sales software
Your sales leaders will appreciate it. By logging your sales deal, you can assist your team stay on track with forecasts and maintaining an up-to-date pipeline.
The Sloovi software is a proper tool for the sales process.
Sloovi will help monitor your data rates and offers updated reports.
Give a brief introduction to the following team
It’s possible that closing the purchase is only the first stage in the customer’s relationship with your business. To continue, they might need to speak with customer success or support. To provide a smooth transition for the consumer to the following stage of the sales process, set up an electronic introduction to the person taking over.
In a few days, follow up with the client
Building trust and client loyalty can be achieved by asking your new customer how they are doing with their purchase. Then, if problems do develop, you may jump in to help immediately, or you can identify someone on your team who can. Check out some sales related guides, sales qualified leads, gross sales vs net sales and B2B sales process.
How Do You Improve and Close Sales Better?
So you are familiar with many tried-and-true methods. How can you improve your sales closing skills by building on this foundation? Here are a few ideas to keep in mind as you work to close the deal.
Know the Customer
You should not feel like you are selling when selling. However, since that is essentially what you are doing, it should seem helpful. Especially in B2B selling, the consultative method will always prevail over the transactional one. To thoroughly understand the customer or company, use discovery calls and your research. What are the pain points? How does your solution deal with them? Do they perfectly fit your proposed solution? This tailored approach fosters trust, and successful selling ultimately revolves around relationships.
Know Their Objections
Half the battle is won by preparation. Naturally, your prospect will raise concerns about why now isn’t the best moment for them to make a purchase. Pricing is used frequently. What is your tool’s competitive edge, and how does it justify the price? Be prepared to respond to any objections they may have with logical arguments. This enhances your credibility as a product and prospect expert.
Know the Decision Maker
Do you have the attention of the right person or decision maker? If not, how can you contact the right person? Getting the right people in the room with the authority to make decisions is crucial for closing many sales. You should figure this out when qualifying leads earlier in the sales process. If the vice president of marketing controls the purse strings, don’t spend too much time explaining the benefits of your tool to the marketing manager.
Getting the attention and audience of the decision maker puts your further ahead.
Know When to Fold Them
The opportunities in a salesperson’s pipeline are not all closed. That implies that many of the prospects who come your way could not end up becoming clients. Additionally, it’s feasible that a tiny portion of your leads may provide the majority of your money, so you don’t need to chase those unlikely to convert. It’s important to know when to move on. Stay away from a company or prospects who have no desire to close. You’ll overlook more exciting possibilities.
Know You Are Part of a Team
Every time, the sum of each expertise will be more significant. Use your team-building tools, such as Sloovi, to interact with other reps or sales managers in real-time when you’re having challenges so you can select your next course of action as a group. Even better, we advise setting up deal-specific Sloovi channels that may serve as a knowledge base and resource for high-level possibilities.
What Sales Closing Mistakes Must You Avoid?
The best salespeople have learned to avoid these frequent traps.
Going in for the Hard Close
Empathy-based selling has replaced pressure-based selling. It demonstrates a lack of concern for the client when you make an early request for the sale and then keep pursuing it aggressively before you’ve even established the worth of your offering. It gives off the impression that you’re rushing the transaction to meet your quota, which is unattractive. Selling is ultimately about them, not you.
Not Asking for the Sale
A crucial point to keep in mind before closing? Ask for the sale. When dealing with prospects, inertia can be challenging to get through. When presented with a choice among several providers, many hesitate and put off making a final purchase. You could never hear from them again if you urge them to “take some time to think about it and circle back.” Sometimes it’s helpful to inquire if they’re ready to buy after you’ve effectively explained why your product is a fit and they’ve expressed interest. You should probe further into their needs if they object.
Once there is assurance, ask for the sale!
Only Closing at the End
How can you choose the ideal moment to close? How can you prevent closing too soon? This is a rather tricky question. Since closing often occurs throughout a sale, there is no specific point when you go in for the close. The prospect’s signature on the dotted line occurs more naturally than as an unexpected event.
At each stage of the sales process, closing should take place. More deals will be closed once this is noted.
Sloovi: Connect With Your Customers Easily
Technology aids the life of man. Sloovi aids the life of the business. To stay informed and well-detailed about your leads and simultaneously send automated required content to clients, Sloovi has made work more manageable.
Sloovi helps your business when you want customers to receive recurring automated promotional and personalized marketing text messages.
Its software helps you fish out cold leads and boost more deals, resulting in your business closing more sales with these data-driven reports.
Be a Sloovi user and enjoy the seamless and easy-to-use software today!