Whatever answer, “Yes” or “No,” towards your offer is much better than no answer. Most painful fears in life are connected with the unknown.
When you receive no answer, you’re in an uncertain state. You don’t know what to expect. The future of this prospect is unknown.
And imagine you have dozens of clients who are thinking about your offer. You’re hoping, guessing, worrying. You’re unbalanced. This is the worst state of all, and obviously, in this state, you can not work effectively and grow your business. You’re full of doubts, uncertainty, and worries.
And after days or weeks of suffering because of uncertainty, you realize it’s “No.” But still, you’re not sure, you’re guessing. And still, hope remains.
Hope is the worst thing in sales.
I suffered a lot until I brought myself to the edge! I read about closing techniques but didn’t have enough courage to put them into action.
In general, “closing a sale” means convincing the prospect and successfully making a sale. But for me, closing a sale means finishing a sale regardless of the result. I did everything possible and got a clear “Yes” or “No” answer to my offer.
Just think about it:
If you get “Yes” – great, you’re genius, you’re happy!
If you get “No,” – it’s great, too, because you immediately forget about this prospect and move on to the next prospect. It’s painful to realize that you fail a sale, but this pain lasts for a few hours, maximum till the end of the day. The next morning you wake with no thoughts about it.
As you know, “Freedom” was the most important feeling in my life.“Freedom” is not only about finances and time. Above all, it’s inner freedom!
Clear “Yes” or “No” from your prospect gives you freedom!
So, the best sale close is when you get money for your products and services.
When selling services, a good close is when
- You schedule an appointment (exact date and time for your meeting) to provide your services.
- You get a clear answer when the prospect makes a payment (in many cases, clients pay after receiving the service)
- You handle objects and alleviate doubts, and a prospect is certain to go with you.
Or you get a clear “No.”
Don’t finish a sales conversation until you schedule an appointment or receive a clear “No” answer.
Conducting a Sales Conversation
My main strategy is honesty.
If I feel that prospect hesitate, I just tell them: “I feel you’re uncertain about my offer. If you don’t want to buy, just tell me.”
Ofter prospects don’t know whether they want to buy or not. Your role as a salesperson is to help them define. No, you don’t need to sell to anybody. As creative individuals, we are very sensitive to our clients’ quality. We want to have fun providing our services. So, we need clients who really want the service we provide, and often we need to help them to make a final decision “yes” or “no.” That’s why you need to conduct an honest conversation.
Usually after “I feel you’re uncertain about my offer, if you don’t want to buy, just tell me,” I get an answer: “I want to buy, to frankly, I need to pay the bills, and I am not sure whether I’ll make it on time.”
Great! You get the objection! Now, you can handle it.
You say: “I hear what you’re saying. Let’s schedule our appointment 2-3 weeks later so you have more time. Sounds good?”
“Yes, thank you,” a prospect says.
It’s not the end of the conversation! If you finish here (and most people will), your prospect will cancel an appointment a few days before it.
“But I need to be sure about your appointment. Could you please provide a small deposit (10%) to secure the appointment?”
(If you have their credit card on file, you can discuss the cancellation fee instead of a deposit. If a prospect easily agrees, it means they’re certain about their visit).
Here we ask for a small deposit to check if a prospect intends to come or just wants to quit a call.
If they’re unsure about a deposit, they don’t want to buy.
You just say: “Sorry, if you can not provide a deposit, I can not secure your appointment.” You can be honest here and continue: “Try to understand me; people book appointments and then cancel a few hours before. I need to be sure about your visit.”
Do you see how gently and smoothly we’re making a prospect make a firm decision “Yes” or “No”?
Now, a prospect is in a position where they need to decide whether to book an appointment and confirm their visit or don’t book at all.
The odds are in your favor that, eventually, a prospect agrees to book an appointment.
And what’s even more important is that you earn trust! You were honest and confident! From now on, your prospect will be more loyal to you.
I showed this sample sales conversation so you get the main idea – continue the conversation until the final “Yes” or “No” one by one, revealing objects and dealing with them. You don’t need to use each phrase unconditionally.
Book a 15-minute call with me, and I will help you create a perfect sales conversation.
