Closing the Sale

Occasionally I will get the opportunity to speak to a civic group or a group of students and one of my favorite topics is  using basic sales techniques as life hacks. To understand the gist of this, we first must understand that we are all selling. We sell our products, our services, our time (you work for an hourly wage don't you?), and most of all, we sell ourselves. 

As I state in my book, "You're Going To Be Great At This!",  before we sell anything else we must first sell ourselves. People buy from those they like and trust, and if you are meeting someone for the first time you have only one opportunity to sell yourself and make a great impression. It does not matter if you are selling a product or going on a blind date, you will want to sell yourself and try to convince someone that you are a good and decent person. That's what sales is all about. 

If you can do that correctly you will have a much better success rate when "closing the deal". By that, I mean that part in the sales process when you ask the prospect to take action, or ask them to buy. There are a lot of different ways to close. My favorite is the "puppy close" legendary among pet shop owners. In this method, the family comes in wanting a turtle or other low maintenance pet, but the owner of the shop wants to sell a puppy, so he insists that the family take the dog home for a few days and "If you don't want it in a few days, bring it back, no hard feelings." 

The family takes the dog home and immediately fall in love. They won't be bringing the dog back and the store owner knows it. That's why car dealers are more than happy to let you take the car home and return it the next day. 

There is also the "assumptive close" where you just assume the client will buy and ask "how would you like to pay for this?" I usually have to feel the love in the air before going there with a prospect, because if you can't feel it, it's probably not there. And the client will look at you like you're a jackass.

There is a reason why we have to learn how to use different types of closes. People will come up with all kinds of objections. "I don't have enough money" or "money is tight" are usually the most common. 

But let's assume that you aren't closing a sale, per se,  but something else. For instance, you go to a party and across the room you see the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. You walk over casually and introduce yourself, offer a drink, dance, laugh and generally "sell yourself". But sooner or later you have to close. And when you do you better be ready for anything. 

The more common objections may be, "I can't leave, I came here with a friend" or "I'm supposed be back at the prison in a couple of hours." Hopefully, you'll successfully close the deal and the parole officer will have to wait a day or so.

The final thought on this subject is the unwritten law of "whoever talks first loses". The point is that if you ask a client to buy you should shut up and quit selling. If you speak, you'll lose the sale, and if they clients speaks first (say they ask a question) they are going to buy. I never have bought into this theory myself. I find it to be overly generalized. More importantly, by asking for more information the client is showing interest, but not to the point of purchasing. 

The whole thing becomes a psychological affair with no one talking while the room gets filled with a weird and awkward silence. The client becomes uncomfortable and that doesn't help the situation, because we want our customer to be happy and at ease. Only use this close unless you are confident it will work. 

I hope this helps you close deals in business and in your life. Have a comment? Leave it below and subscribe to the blog. And as always, stay healthy. 

 Chris Castanes is a professional speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. He's also the author of "You're Going To Be Great At This!", a humorous look at sales. For booking information, click here. He's also the president of Surf Financial Brokers selling life and disability insurance in several states.