Especially during the ‘kickoff season’ of any new sales year, sales teams and marketing departments alike usually invest a tremendous amount of thought and energy into how best to position their solutions within their respective markets. That makes sense—after all, the more solutions you provide, the more money you and your company stand to make, right?

Most top performers in sales are good closers. But, instead of just focusing on “doing deals,” effective closers are keenly aware of the importance of securing smaller commitments on the way to consummating larger transactions.

Closing ‘deals’ in sales is easy if the customer has an immanent need, and they recognize the value of your product or service, and you’ve successfully differentiated your offering to the point where the customer believes their return on investment far exceeds the cost. What’s not to like? At that point, all the salesperson has to do is place an order form in front of the customer and say, “Press hard, five copies.”

I talked at length about closing strategies in my first book, Secrets of Question Based Selling, and one of my focus points was how the final phase of the sales cycle should be somewhat anticlimactic. Meaning, if a customer is indeed ready to buy, then you don’t need a magic formula or clever one-liner to coerce the decision maker into wrapping up the transaction. But when the customer is not ready, that’s when an effective closing strategy can be the difference maker.

Because buyers are increasingly skeptical toward vendors, it’s only natural that they hesitate before pulling the trigger at the end of the sales cycle. This trepidation shouldn’t surprise anyone, as most customers know what’s like to make a bad decision they later regret. Hence, this natural hesitancy on the part of potential buyers is the new reality that forms the backdrop for most sales opportunities.

That’s why I teach sellers to rely on “logic” when closing sales, rather than doing anything like pleading, or pressuring, or coaxing the customer into buying? To understand how to maximize your probability of success when closing, one must first understand the fallacy of those older-school approaches. Here’s a scenario you might relate to…and an example of how not to close:

Salesperson: “Mr. Customer, what do you say we go ahead and sign the paperwork and put you behind the wheel of this beauty?”

If you were the buyer, what’s the first thought that pops into your head upon hearing these words? I’m thinking, “This salesperson just turned up the pressure; he wants to close the deal right here and now. But, why should I care what the salesperson wants? I’m the one who has to live with the decision.” Another popular closing question goes something like, “Ms. Customer, what will it take for us to do business today?” This salesperson is clearly trying to turn the screws to press the customer to ‘put up or shut up.’

There are very few times in the QBS Methodology where I recommend exact wording, as the context and circumstances of one sales opportunity may be very different than the next. But there are times where specific wording and verbal precision can help a lot. How to secure commitments needed to close more sales sooner is one of those times.

While I’m not searching for a foolproof or surefire closing trick, I am happy to share the single most productive closing question I that know with you. The reason it works so well is because it taps into the customer’s motivations to act as opposed to sounding beggish or desperate. As you near the end of the decision cycle, and you think the customer is ready to be closed, simple ask the following:

Salesperson: “Ms. Customer, would it make sense to move forward with your purchase decision, so you can start reaping the benefits of our solutions?”

Notice I specifically asked if “it would makes sense” to move forward with a purchase. The underlying strategy here is pretty simple. If, for whatever reason it does not “make sense” to move forward, they will surely respond by saying, “No,” in which case, it’s easy to ask more questions to find out where the opportunity really stands. On the other hand, if it does make sense to move forward, you’ve made it easy for the customer to say, “Sure, let’s do it.” Either way, you get to know where you stand relative the opportunity, rather than just closing and putting your head on the proverbial block and hoping it doesn’t get chopped off.

Critics of this straightforward approach could argue that I’m giving the customer an “out.” Perhaps, but in today’s day and age of buying and selling, the vast majority of customers already know full well that they don’t have to buy from you. So, I’m willing to trade also the “outs” I’m ‘giving’ for the volume of accurate information I get in return by not verbally backing the customer into a corner.

Additionally, asking if ‘it would make sense to” move forward is just as viable early in the sales process as it is when you’re trying to wrap up the transaction. On the initial call, for example, if you’re able to pique the customer’s interest and establish enough credibility where they want to explore how your solutions might meet their needs, all you have to do is ask:

Salesperson: “Mr. Customer, would it make sense to get the appropriate people together onto a Web-x or conference call, to further explore your options, how they might impact your business, and review the associated costs?”

The significance of this technique is sometimes lost in its subtlety. Asking customers if ‘it makes sense” brings logic into the equation, thus taking the emotion out. Essentially, you’re just asking for their thoughts relative to taking the next step, which sidesteps the perception that you’re only focused on padding your own pocketbook.

As an added bonus, if the customer does agree to get “the appropriate people together,” there’s a good chance your suggestion of involving other key players in a conference call, Web-x, or meeting, could significantly shorten your sales cycle. The net result translates into closing more deals sooner, and more easily!

Being outgoing, gregarious, and friendly used to be the savvy salesperson’s ticket to penetrating new accounts. Today, key decision makers on your target list of prospects already have plenty of friends. And, given the sheer volume of solicitations that come in on a daily basis, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the next cold call that gets lobbed in the customer’s direction has only a very small chance of success.

Some of the reason sellers are experiencing such low hit-rates is self-inflicted, by using traditional catch-phrases like, “I would love to…”, or, “I just need a brief moment of your time.” Decision makers know you’re not just looking for a brief moment of their time. They also assume salespeople have quotas to hit and would really “love” to boost their commissions.

No doubt your intentions are good, as most salespeople are earnestly trying to provide value to their customers. The challenge is separating yourself from the countless other solicitations potential buyers receive on a daily basis, and then causing decision makers to “want to” engage with you.

Suppose if it were possible to reverse this trend. What if you could create an 80%+ success rate when reaching out to new prospects, rather than continue enduring the typical 90%+ failure rate? How is this possible, you might ask?

Acquiring the skills necessary to fill your pipeline faster, and with more qualified prospects, is actually easier than one might think. But, it does require sellers to have an appreciation of next-generation selling skills, which is very different than just trying to ‘buddy’ your way into potential opportunities.

There’s no magic, and God knows old-school sales tricks or gimmicks aren’t going to work moving forward. Instead, there are a few very important questions individual sellers (and entire sales teams) should be asking themselves, like:

• What are you doing to leverage curiosity to get mindshare from key decision makers in target accounts?
• What Diagnostic Questions™ are you asking to convey credibility?
• How does opening with a generic elevator pitch differentiate you from competitors who are making similar claims?
• What are you doing to secure incremental commitments on the way to the larger sale?

When you’re on the receiving end of cold calls at home, I bet you’re not excited about giving information to people you don’t yet know and trust. So, why should we expect the old-school mentality of trying to “befriend” prospective customers, if that strategy no longer works on you or me? Hmmm…

As I was preparing to work with a new client–one of the many who has recently adopted The Challenger Sale concepts–I spotted an article in last week’s Sunday paper called “Building a Better Teacher.” Since one of the main tenants of The Challenger Sale is to Teach, Tailor, and Take Control, I read it with interest. There was one passage in particular that got my attention. The passage simply read:

“The natural born teacher has proven to be a myth. Those studies looking for the personality traits of a great teacher don’t pan out. Researchers have found that the most effective teachers can be extraverts–or they can just as easily be introverts. Some are humorous, but others are serious. Some are as flexible as rubber, and others are as rigid as a ruler. It’s not personality that makes a teacher great, but a specialized body of knowledge that must be learned–and that often goes against what comes naturally.”

From my perspective, that same conclusion can be applied to sales. There are very few naturally born salespeople. Success in selling is a function of having the skills necessary to cause prospects to “want to” engage with you, as opposed to the countless other sales callers, coupled with the ability to earn credibility, convey value, create a sense of urgency, qualify, secure commitments, etc. Other than attending a few seminars and whatever experiences you’ve had, how are people who are given the responsibility of producing revenue supposed to learn how to sell?

If we dig deeper, we quickly discover that sales is the least taught profession in the world. To become a practicing attorney, for example, you must first pass the Bar exam. To become a licensed pharmacist, you must pass the boards in the state in which you wish to practice. Accountants, doctors, architects, and professional engineers all must pass some kind of competency test in order to call themselves a professional. Even kindergarten teachers must complete their master’s degree within ten years to continue in their jobs.

What do you have to do to become a sales professional? The answer is: print business cards. In the state where I live (Georgia), you have to have a license to catch a fish or own a dog, but you can sell nuclear parts without any sales training whatsoever. Something about that doesn’t seem right.

When our oldest daughter graduated from the University of South Carolina three years ago, as we sat in the stands waiting for her name to be called, it occurred to me that all of those kids wearing caps and gowns (or their parents) have invested $100K+ to get an education and presumably a head start into their chosen careers, yet the very first thing they will have to do right out of school is to sell–themselves. And the kicker is, after 17 years of formal education (13 years of regular school, and then 4 years of college), most of these graduates haven’t been taught the first thing about how to sell, even though sales is the fuel thing drives revenue in every company. Furthermore, one’s ability to communicate effectively will not only affect their ability to land that first job, it will likely determine their success in life. Hmmm.

There are so many sales training courses out there that it has become VERY unclear as to which option will provide the best fit, especially given all the conflicting information floating around the marketplace.

While some of the more well known courses like Solution Selling, Strategic Selling, Value Selling, SPIN Selling, Target Account Selling, and Power-Base Selling focus on defining the sales process, sellers are left to their own devices to figure out “how” to execute the various objectives that have been defined. This creates a series of questions like:

–       How can I succeed when decision makers are more standoffish toward vendors than ever before?

–       How can I differentiate yourself when everyone is using the same industry buzzwords?

–       How can I create a sense of urgency so that internal champions are able to secure approval?

–       How can I get deeper, wider, and more strategic within your current accounts?

–       How can “I” increase my R.O.I.S.E (Return on Invested Sales Effort)?

For some unexplainable reason, sellers are expected to know the answers to these and other questions that deal with execution and productivity. Really? Wouldn’t it make more sense to teach best practices so that your entire sales team can take a giant leap forward as opposed to slowly ramping up via trial and error? Ironically, this thought was the genesis of QBS.

In two days or less, we can give sellers an unfair advantage in their respective markets just by teaching them superior strategy using specific sales techniques. And even though some of these techniques “go against what comes naturally,” if a salesperson tries something new and different and it works over and over, it will become natural to them very quickly.

Now the question is, what are we waiting for? When sales managers call me and we go back and forth looking at the calendar to figure out when they want to schedule their training, I ask, “Rather than worry about logistics, can I ask, when would you like to see a significant boost your sales team’s production?”   The most common answer is…yesterday.

Does any of this sound familiar? Let me know how we can help.