The One Call Close: The Two-Step Close, Hard Sell, Soft Sell, Staggered Sell, Dealing Against a Price, Falling Price Close, High Pressure, Low Pressure: Offers, Proposals, Estimates: What Does It All Mean? ? Mostly misunderstood jargon or gibberish.
Selling is one of the least understood communication practices. Many people delude themselves or simply misunderstand the sales process, often evaluating it as manipulation, deceit, or worse. Webster’s Ultimate Dictionary contains over 50 definitions, some as simple as: Exchanging goods, goods or services for money or -Establishing faith, trust or belief in. Then, within the same group of definitions are phrases such as -A trick or deceit- and -To deceive or deceive.-
In fact, it is not the many definitions that cause the confusion, but rather the various ways in which we humans devise methods of communication in an effort to convince others, change minds, or promote the sale of goods and services.
Today’s customer is besieged by hundreds of exhortations every day, to buy, try, consider, write or call to find out without obligation. Yours may be one of them.
These prospects are bombarded with information, some targeted, some not. So when you and they meet face to face, it’s important that you understand the way they think and feel, and what their values are. We call this -customer satisfaction sale.-
The average customer today is 10-12 years younger than his or her counterpart a decade ago. The baby boomer generation, while still part of the prospect base, is now in its late 60s. The newest prospect – Gen X – is younger, well-informed and thriving in a dual-income household. They are oriented to information from the Internet and are often more adept at home improvement projects than their ancestors.
So if your sales methods, or lack thereof, were developed a decade ago, it would be wise to do some research to figure out how to close more sales, in a shorter cycle time, all while lowering your churn rate.
After 17 years of research in preparation for my latest book, and after surveying hundreds of sellers and surveying thousands of buyers, I offer this simple interpretation.
“Whenever there is an interaction between two or more parties, for the purpose of establishing new ideas, exchanging goods or services, or developing a relationship, some form of selling will occur and the skills of the communicator/seller will determine the outcome.”
In home improvement selling, the concept can be described as a problem-solving discussion between a salesperson and a prospect that leads to a meeting of minds that deepens one’s dependence on the other. Despite your intuition, you may be doing things that don’t serve this purpose. Presenting ideas before doing so – a needs assessment, – quoting prices in numbers – ball parks -, believing that the deep discount or – calling your manager for a drop – will make up for an archaic sales presentation, giving prices over the phone, or even failing to request the order in a non-offensive way creates a malfunction in the sales process.
Closing the sale is not magical or mystical. it is a process A means by which you present your product or service to others in a way that convinces them that your offer meets their needs better than others’. Closing the sale is the natural conclusion to the successful completion of each step of a solid sales methodology, based on an understanding of your prospects’ values.
It is universally accepted that if you develop a good relationship with a potential client, you have a better chance of having your ideas and proposals valued. However, the relationship is purely a state of mind that begins with feelings. So how much do you know as an individual about what prospects like or what will make them respond more positively to your presentation? Our surveys indicate that prospects purchased products or services more frequently based on the following perceptions.
– Seller’s credibility.
– Relationship with the seller.
– Consideration of your (prospect’s) value system
– A unique quality product/service adapted to your needs
– A product/service that was superior to most other options
– The value of the project equaled or exceeded the price
– The ease, simplicity of purchase and perceived compliance
– The seller was a knowledgeable specialist
– The salesperson showed interest in doing business with the prospect – and placed the order
Now, consider the prospect who contacted the company and came away with a feeling like:
– The salesperson was so interested in talking about himself or his company that he asked little about our values or long-term goals.
– He had loads of photographs and brochures, most of which were more important to them than to us.
– He kept reminding us how busy he was – almost like he was doing us a favor by considering our project.
– Once he gave us a price, he started telling us about the various discounts he could offer, so it was apparent there was little to no credibility to his original price.
– He never asked us to make a decision to do our job.
If the word sell or the actions of some sellers are reprehensible to you, be careful. In your effort to produce best practices, you may miss selling concepts that build a relationship quickly, remove many price objections, and make it easy for the prospect to say yes.
