One of the biggest questions that most salespeople ask and are constantly looking out to solve is “How do I close sales? and what can I do to close more sales?
As a result of their tight schedules and targets, sales reps have to constantly be on their toes to get clients and close their sales deals. Hence they have to consistently develop strategies, techniques, and tips that can help them improve their sales process and seal their sales deals.
Customers’ demands and needs are constantly changing, and as a sales rep, you must always stay ahead of these demands making sure that you have what it takes to convince the prospect and close the deals.
In this article, we have identified some powerful deal closing techniques, tips, and questions to ask your prospect to seal the deal.
Table of Contents
- What is a sales pitch?
- What is sales closing?
- Why are sales pitches still so important?
- 9 Critical Keys to Close Sales
- 8 Best Negotiation Techniques to Successfully Close a Deal?
- 20 Modern Sales Closing Techniques to Win More Deals
- 15 Sales Closing Questions that can Help you Close More Sales
- What To Do After Closing a Sale
What is a sales pitch?
A sales pitch is a short, optimized, and well-crafted sales presentation that is developed by sales reps to share the business offerings with the prospects and encourage them to take the sales conversation to the next step.
Although the general idea of most sales pitches by most people is the “very official business presentation setting where a salesperson is presenting the business proposal to a group of professional clients.” Interestingly, most sales pitches are versatile, they don’t have to be presented only during physical business meetings. You can have your sales pitch over the phone while talking to your prospect.
The ultimate goal of every sales pitch is to craft a compelling product or service narrative for your prospect – getting them to buy your product or service. Beyond the mode of presentation, a sales pitch must creatively present the product features and benefits in a way that the prospect can’t ignore – and in most cases pushes them to make sales.
A good sales pitch shouldn’t start with the product and its features, instead, the focus should be on highlighting the prospect’s pain points that the product can solve. A sales pitch moves the sales process a bit further to closing the sale. Check out the guide about sales prospecting.
What is sales closing?
Sales closing is a sales term that refers to the process of making a sale. In simple terms, it is the moment when a prospect or customer decides to make a purchase.
After a series of activities, steps, and tactics used in the sales process to nurture the prospect, sales closing is that point in the sales funnel where the sales reps successfully get the prospect to agree to a deal and sign a contract.
Sales closing is the critical point that brings together all your time and efforts to make a strong case for why your business solutions and offerings can solve the prospect’s pain points. After many, no’s from your prospect, the closing of the sale is when you finally get a yes and successfully convert the prospect to a paying customer.
Under normal circumstances, sales closing should not be stressful or make you feel nervous considering all the work that has been put into the process from the start. Sadly, some of the closings of the sale don’t always turn out well, majorly from the prospect’s end.
Even when you feel so convinced that the prospect is going to make a payment, the prospect can decide to choose your competitor over you, make demands that you can’t deliver, postpone their decision till the next quarter or just make any action that can abruptly stop sales. This explains why you need to put some sales strategies in place backed with effective tips and sales closing questions to seal the deal.
Why are sales pitches still so important?
Below are some of the reasons why sales pitches are still very important for sales closing.
1. It makes a good impression on the prospect
In most cases, your sales pitch will be the first official interaction a prospect has with your business and your presentation of your business offerings can leave a lasting impression on your prospect.
The sales pitch is your perfect opportunity to showcase your products or service and expand your prospect’s knowledge of your company and how your products can help them solve their business problems. To leave a positive, lasting impression on your prospect and help you close the sale, make your sales pitch as detailed and compelling as possible.
2. It can help build a connection
When you present your sales pitch in the best way, it can help you build a strong business connection with your prospect. Since your prospect needs to trust you and your business to make sales successful.
Your sales pitch can help your prospect build trust in you, your product, and your business and gain their loyalty to help you close the sales deal.
3. It can help you stand out from the competition
It is not new that the competition in the business environment is very fierce with many similar businesses offering the same products or services. One good way to stand out from the competition is by pitching a perfect sales presentation.
Since your sales pitch can leave a positive, long-lasting impression on the prospects and investors, it can also help you grab their attention so much that respective of what they see from your competitors, you will still be evergreen to them.
4. It can help you boost sales
The ultimate goal of a sales pitch is to help increase sales in your business. When a prospect or an investor listens to your sales pitch, it should be able to convince them to purchase your products or invest in your business.
A killer sales pitch can help you win your prospects over, and gain new customers that will help you increase your sales.
5. It can help you get valuable feedback from your prospects
Presenting your sales pitch can help you build interactions with your prospect and from these interactions, you can get feedback on what they think about your product or service, more insights into their pain points, and how you can improve your products.
When you implement all this feedback to your product, it can help you increase sales and profit, necessary to help you grow your business.
9 Critical Keys to Close Sales
Here are some of the nine (9) critical steps that you have to take when it comes to closing a sale.
1. Don’t focus too much on the close
So many salespeople stress over the close stage – constantly stressing over the sales tactic to use, what questions to ask, or how best to pitch the product or service to convince them to make a purchase. However, instead of focusing too much on the close, so much work should have gone into the activities that lead to the close.
Following the mantra “Start Strong, Finish Strong”, put more effort into the nurturing process, if you start the sales interaction strong and successfully present the product features and benefits, it increases your chances of successfully closing sales.
2. Give your prospects space
There’s always pressure on salespeople to close deals and turn in the required sales target. Sales desperation is a wrong approach to sales, for many salespeople make this visible to the prospects that they need to close the sale by constantly calling the prospects and staying on their neck.
Showing desperation is toxic for sales, to increase your chance of closing more sales, present yourself as confident, financially independent, and not desperate during all conversations with your customer/prospect.
3. Consider disqualification
There are different sides to achieving sales success. Sometimes it depends on the prospect, other times the sales rep has the ultimate power to make it happen not forgetting other external factors that are beyond the sales rep and prospect’s power. Whichever it is, you must not overlook the power of disqualification.
Disqualification enables you as the sales rep to look into your prospect and determine if they are a good fit for sales (check if they are qualified to make sales). While you put in the effort to convince your prospect, also ask your prospects important questions that can help you gauge their capability and qualification as your customer.
4. Encourage successful interaction
As a sales rep, you must understand that your responsibility to your customers or prospect goes beyond just developing your sales pitch and presenting it to them, you must also devote your time to having successful interactions with your prospects, getting them comfortable enough to open up to you about important factors that can get in the way of the sales.
The truth about sales is that your prospect in most cases already has all the important information about your product and business, so when you talk with them, make it count by getting to know more about their goals, pain points, and interests that your product can solve.
5. Answer questions with questions
It is not new that during the sales process, sales reps will deal with a lot of questions from their prospect. The majority of the time during meetings, you will often find prospects that are interested in your product bombarding you with questions that consider important to them.
A good way to go around this is to answer your prospect’s questions with questions on why such things are important to them. Instead of trying to find answers to their questions, try to understand why they are asking those questions and their importance to the sales success.
When you understand this, you can understand how best to answer them in a way that can help you close sales.
6. Only sell to your ideal prospects or customers
Let’s face it, as a sales rep, you most likely have a large list of prospects that you have to work with and follow up with to meet your sales quota. To shorten your sales cycle, define your ideal customer or prospect profile and only sell to this set of people. These individuals must have the budget, money, the need, challenge, and authority needed to achieve sales. Check out the detailed guide to building your ideal customer profile.
7. Be obsessed with the next step
It would be counterproductive to go on with your sales without talking to your prospects about the next steps. To ensure you are on the same page with your prospect with regards to sales, you need to be very clear and comfortable with establishing next steps conversations with your prospect.
If you want to be closing deals, you must always schedule your next step with your prospect while you are still talking to them or in front of them. Don’t delay the next steps till later.
8. Show your prospect you can solve their problems
Sales managers must train their sales reps to always show the prospect how they can solve their business pain points rather than just promoting the product features and benefits. As a sales rep looking to increase your sales success, show your prospect how you can help them solve your business problems or pain points.
9. Learn to let go
The majority of salespeople go through so much getting prospects and converting them to customers. Sometimes this negative result can have a significant impact on their mental health and leaves them with emotional baggage they take on to subsequent sales conversations.
Although understandably, salespeople go through this considering all the time, effort, and resources they have put into the sales effort, sales reps must learn to let go of all disappointment and look out for better opportunities.
8 Best Negotiation Techniques to Successfully Close a Deal
Although it is almost impossible to control the behaviors of others or their opinions about certain things, some of this can still be influenced during the sales conversation. By taking the right steps and closing technique you can close sales that seem impossible to win.
To get the best results from your sales effort, here are some sales closing techniques that can help you close sales in any situation.
1. Be impassive
The worst thing you can do for your sales is to let your prospect catch on to your feeling of nervousness or impatience from you. This can make you feel unprofessional and look untrustworthy which can affect your decision to make a purchase.
To deal with this, focus your attention on mastering your sales pitch and presenting this in the best way possible with confidence. Ignore any pressure on things in a hurry as this can affect how you propose your business offerings to them.
2. Don’t get upset
An actionable sales advice that can help you as a sales rep is to avoid getting too emotional or showing your frustrations or unhappiness with your prospects even in situations where they do things that frustrate you.
Lending credence to the popular mantra in the business world is “Customers are king”. So irrespective of what your customer does, keep your emotion within you and try not to take things too personally. Keeping your professional outlook always can help you successfully close the deal.
3. Always accept your prospect’s opinion
One of the most effective closing sales techniques to get along with your prospects is your approach and attitude to your prospects. Your voice is a powerful tool for persuading and convincing your audience to make a purchase. Modulate your tone, adjust your speech rate and modify its power to gain the respect of your customers.
4. Focus your speech on your prospect
The most significant part of your sales process is your pitch or product presentation to your prospect/potential customer. For this reason, you must ensure that your sales conversation is directed at your client – make them the center of your sales speech.
When talking about your product benefits, highlight how the product can benefit them or help them solve their needs. This way they become sold on your product and consider it a credible solution to their problem.
5. Take ownership of your prospect’s problems
Before closing a sale, it is important that you understand how much the business solution means to your prospects – understand how much they want to resolve the problem that makes them uncomfortable.
It is not enough to just present your product as the ultimate solution to their problems, you must also show your concern in helping them solve their specific business pain points.
Remember that with this technique, your focus should not be on whether your potential customer is ready to buy your product but more on their readiness and willingness to solve the problem. If they are not ready to solve the pain point, it shows that it is not very important for their business.
6. Take charge of the process
The majority of the time when trying to close a deal with your prospects so much can happen during the sales conversation or pitching process – you can get distracted by the prospects and bring up other topics that are outside of your sales conversation, interrupt you, or make you talk about yourself.
Take initiative and politely take charge of your conversation by asking them if it’s okay to talk about it very quickly to move on with the sales pitch. Doing this can help you subtly call their attention to the conversation and steer the pitch in the direction you have planned out for it.
7. Don’t Feel Superior
During your sales conversation, it is understandable that you try to show your authority when talking with your prospect to show them that you are professional. However, make sure that you avoid using words like “You are wrong” or “Let me tell you the truth” when trying to prove a point.
When stating a fact, ensure that you do this from a personal stance rather than just restating the fact as reported. For example, instead of saying things like “Did you know that sales experts predict that sales CRM can triple sales revenue within the first six months of use” use words like “The use of sales CRM can triple sales revenue within the first six months of use, would you like to leverage this for your business?
8. Maintain a pleasant and respectful atmosphere during presentations
Avoid making bad gestures when making your sales presentations, if your prospects showcase bad behavior or act unpleasantly, don’t take this personally, learn how to manage your prospects effectively without letting it affect the sales.
20 Modern Sales Closing Techniques to Win More Deals
Sales closing techniques are full-proof ways to help you close your sales deals successfully without stress. Here are the top 20 modern sales closing techniques that can you use to close sales faster and more efficiently.
1. The Assumptive Close
Assumptive close is one of the most popular closing techniques that a salesperson uses by assuming that the deal has been closed. Sales reps use this technique when the prospect has fulfilled almost all the requirements needed in every stage of the sales process but is yet to confirm the deal.
The assumptive close works because it offers a proactive approach to closing the sales. Instead of waiting for the prospect to decide when to make payment, the salesperson pops the sales question as soon as all requirements have been fulfilled.
2. The Takeaway Close
This closing technique works by withdrawing the whole deal from the prospect to push them to accept the offer. This is best suited for situations where you are on the verge of closing the deal but the prospect is reluctant to make that happen. They either come up with complaints or make certain requests that will lengthen the sales cycle.
To close the sales deal, a professional sales rep uses the takeaway close to show the prospect that they can let go of the deal to move on with other clients.
3. The Now or Never Close
This closing technique otherwise known as the urgency close is where the salesperson places pressure on the prospect to make a sales decision. This technique works best when combined with a special discount or a freebie valid for a limited period. The now or never close technique is best used when the prospect appears to be indecisive about making a purchase.
Like the takeaway close, it uses fear of missing out on a discount or offer to compel the prospect to get your product.
4. The Summary Close
This closing technique as the name implies is when the sales rep selectively summarizes the highlights of the product features and benefits and moves the sales conversation towards a conclusion by connecting the dotted line that can naturally move the prospect to make a purchase decision faster.
The Summary close is best suited for situations where you have done extensive research and discussion about the product with the prospect and need to just switch things up for a change.
5. Something for Nothing Close
The Something for Nothing closing technique works around giving your prospect a free add-on or an extra feature in goodness with the hope of getting something in return from the prospect – which in this case is buying your product. With the belief that people like free things, a salesperson with the approval of the sales manager offers the prospect a freebie or extra feature that is valuable to them and would not be a great loss to you.
6. The Objection Close
As the name implies, the objection closing technique allows the prospect to raise any final objections or doubts that they may need to clear or solve to move the deal forward. Once you are sure that your prospect has understood everything you have pitched about your product and how it can benefit them, try closing the deal by asking them if they have any objections or concerns they may have about the product.
7. The Ben Franklin Close
Owing to the proposition of Benjamin Franklin, who was not only a great inventor, and politician but also a successful businessman. His business tactic of listing the pros and cons of every business decision has found its way into contemporary sales closing tactics. This closing technique works by listing the pros and cons of your product to help you visualize how valuable your product is to them.
This technique is best suited when the prospect hesitates to make a payment, you can list all the pros and cons of your product and share this with them to increase your sales success.
8. The Sharp Angle Close
The Sharp Angle Technique is best used when the prospect looks like they will buy your product but have one nagging objection that is stopping them from making payment. With the understanding that some prospects can be very demanding of add-ons, discounts, or other incentives, the sharp angle close works to fulfill these demands but at a price. Your sales pitch addresses their desires but gives them a condition to close the deal.
For example, if the prospect is asking for a discount, you can get approval and give them a discount that has a timeframe e.g You get a 15% discount for your first six months if you make payment within 24 hours.
9. The Needs Close
The needs technique works by satisfying a prospect’s needs to get them to buy your product and is best suited for situations where the prospect is not sure of how the product will benefit them. It works by listing the things the prospect needs from your product, then reviewing them and starting ticking them off the list one after the other. Doing this shows your prospect how your product can help them.
10. The Scale Close
This technique rates the prospect on a scale of 1-10 to determine how interested they are in your product. Based on the score, you can either decide to solve their concerns if they score too low or just proceed to close the deal if they score a high score. The scale close helps you analyze the prospect’s interest and gives you an insight into concerns they might have regarding your product.
11. The Visual Close
Following reports that the human brain processes an image 60, 000 faster than content, the visual close technique uses visual aids such as charts, videos, and even tables to visualize the pros and cons allowing you to close deals more attractively. This technique is popular among many salespeople because it appeals to the prospect’s visual appeal and makes it easy for them to read and understand the concepts.
12. The Empathy Close
The Empathy Close Technique uses emotion to understand the situation your prospect is on. When the prospect stalls the sales close because they feel they are not ready to make a decision, try not to act too rashly but instead give them more time to think rather than push for a close. Empathizing with your prospect can help you build a good relationship which can help you in the long run.
13. The Artisian Close
The Artisan close technique allows you to highlight the amount of work, skill, and time that is being invested in the product. This technique works best when the prospect is someone appreciative of the hard work and effort, the sales rep deviates from the usual sales technique by showing the prospect more content behind-the-scenes of your product than the benefits of your prospect.
14. The Alternative Close
The Alternative Close, which is a variant of assumption close assumes that the prospect is interested in your product and offers them two choices that will help you move the deal forward. The idea with this is that irrespective of the choice that the prospect chooses, it will still be towards closing a sale. This technique works best when the prospect doesn’t have any queries or objections on the product, price, or features.
15. The Opportunity Cost Close
In simple business terms, opportunity cost is the cost of forgoing something important. This technique uses the “Fear of Missing Out” principle by stressing that the prospect will miss out on something if they don’t implement your solution or product. The sales rep when using a technique emphasizes the fact their purchase decision is not an expenditure but rather an investment by highlighting the expected ROI or results they will gain from using your product.
16. The Ownership Close
This technique paints a picture of how the product will help the prospect’s business grow. It works best when backed with facts and statistics that can show how the prospect’s key metrics will improve when they start using the product. Do this by sharing compelling stories of goals achieved and success stories that can help them make decisions faster.
17. The “Best Time to” Close
This close technique is used when you notice that there is a trigger event related to the prospect where you use the event to persuade the prospect on why that time is the best time to invest in your product.
18. The Calendar Close
This technique works when the prospect is sitting on the fence when it’s time to sign the deal, so in this case, you suggest a date in the nearest future to finalize the deal. Doing this can help you eliminate the hassles of going back and forth and help you identify the level of your prospect’s commitment to signing the deal.
19. The Testimonial Close
The testimonial close as the name implies helps you build trust and credibility with your prospects by sharing your existing client’s testimonials and experiences with your product with them to influence the prospect to close the deal.
20. The Thermometer Close
The Thermometre close gives the prospects a scale of 1 -10 and asks them to give a score on how likely they are to purchase the product. This technique can help you identify and overcome your prospect’s objections and gauge how close they are to making a purchase.
15 Sales Closing Questions that can Help you Close More Sales
The last important part of closing a sale is how you as for sales from your prospects. Sales experts recommend starting with B2B sales questions to better qualify the lead earlier in the sales process. If you feel you are close to closing the deal, consider using the following sales closing phrases to lead your prospects to the line of thought that gets them to say yes.
- “Is there any reason you wouldn’t do business with our company if we gave you the product at this price?”
- “If we could find a way to deal with {objection}, would you sign the contract on {set period in time}?”
- “Would you like my help?”
- “Based on what we’ve discussed, do you think our solution is a good fit for your needs? Why?”
- “If we throw in {freebie}, would that convince you to sign the contract today?”
- “I’d hate to see {negative consequence} befall your company because you didn’t have the right product in place. Do you want to take the crucial step to protect your organization today?”
- “When do you want to make a decision and begin implementing a solution?”
- “When is the best date and time to schedule our next meeting?”
- “Is there any reason that you wouldn’t do business with us at this point?”
- “Why don’t you give it/us a try?”
- “What happens next?”
- “Considering everything, I think one of these two plans would work best for you. Would you like to go with {X} or {Y}?”
- “Do you feel ready to move forward? I can send over the contract right now.”
- “On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you that our product will meet your needs?”
- “I know X is a really big priority for your team next quarter. If we’re able to close by X date, this solution will be able to help you meet your goals.”
What To Do After Closing a Sale
After you close the sale, there’s the urge to celebrate the win and that’s alright. But don’t forget to complete some of your after-sales tasks before jubilating. Here are some tips for what to do after closing a sale.
- Register the deal in your sales software: Remember to log in the deal in your sales software to help keep your team up for forecasting and keep your sales pipeline up to date.
- Provide an introduction to the next team: The deal closing is just one step in the sales process, closing the deal is likely only a beginning step in your customer’s journey with your business. After closing the deal, they might need to speak with customer service or support to get accustomed to the system and consider setting up an introduction with the next team.
- Follow up with the customer after a few days: Ensure that you check up on the customer after some days to see how they are doing with the new product. This can help you build trust and loyalty. In any case, if they are experiencing issues with the product, you can quickly step in and help them find a solution to the problem for future sales opportunities.
Conclusion
The ultimate goal of every sales effort is to close a sale and increase the company’s revenue. The best way to help you close more deals is by putting the aforementioned sales closing techniques into practice by trying them out. Also, find the guide about gross revenue.
Choose your mode and style of interaction carefully and always consider the individual qualities of your prospect when trying to close the sale.
Don’t forget that you are dealing with real humans who might likely have other brands also selling to them. Be patient with them, focus more on your product value than the benefits, and try not to take things too emotionally when dealing with them.