I’m surprised at how often I hear, “I can’t close.” And I flinch when managers tell me they want their producers to attend a training program on how to close the sale.
It’s never about closing. An issue with closing is merely a symptom, and treating it will only mask the real problem: that many producers neglect critical sales activities during earlier parts of the sales process. It’s like back pain. You can alleviate the symptom by stretching and applying heat, but unless you treat the cause of the pain — a pulled muscle or degenerating disc — you won’t heal.
Here are three steps to help yourself make some rain.
1. Get referrals
It all begins with introductions. How did you meet your prospect? Did a trusted source introduce you? Were you pre-sold? Or, did you meet the prospect at a trade show, through cold calling, or through a Web or direct-mail inquiry?
Closing rates vary dramatically depending on the lead source. When agents go in with referrals, they typically convert prospects to clients more than 70 percent of the time, as opposed to 1 percent to 3 percent with less-direct sources.
When you receive a referral introduction, you are pre-sold. The prospect is expecting your call and wants to talk to you. They know you’re a trusted resource and view you as an advisor. The secret is the introduction. If someone simply gives you a name and contact information, you’ll be calling a person who doesn’t know you and isn’t expecting you to reach out, which means you’re cold calling — and cold calling doesn’t work (or works so rarely that it’s not worth your time). A referral, on the other hand, can increase your credibility, eliminate the competition, and result in qualified prospects.
Referrals don’t cost a dime (unlike those pricey and ineffective lists many companies are buying), and they shorten your sales cycle. Why would you waste time and money doing anything else?
2. Ask questions
Once you’ve sourced the lead, you further enhance your closing rate by understanding your prospect’s individual needs, which are often different from what they think they need. Clients are often too close to their own issues, or not well-versed enough in their options, to step back and understand which of your services would benefit them most.
Many producers ask one or two questions, then assume they have zeroed in on the client’s need and created an appropriate solution. This is rarely the case. Take the time to really evaluate prospects’ situations and understand and define their significant problems and needs.
Open-ended and probing questioning (also known as “peeling the onion”) can dramatically affect your closing rates — and the total sale. When you truly understand your client’s needs, you often increase the scale of your engagement, and the client gets the best solution. Your client is thrilled and, in turn, refers you to their network.
3. Assign homework
Never leave a meeting with a list of things for you to do and nothing for your prospect to do. Without an assignment, they won’t be as invested in the solution. Ask them to gather additional information, for example, or to connect with other family members — just so long as they have some homework and feel like an engaged part of the process.
And always, always, get another meeting on the calendar before you leave. If the prospect is noncommittal about meeting again, you may have jumped to a recommendation too quickly. You haven’t closed. Go back and ask more questions. Get to the heart of the matter and find out what’s really on their minds. It’s never about closing.
Joanne Black is a professional speaker and the founder of the company No More Cold Calling. She is also the author of “No More Cold Calling: The Breakthrough System That Will Leave Your Competition in the Dust” from Warner Business Books. For more information, visit www.nomorecoldcalling.com. Joanne can be reached at 415-461-8763 or joanne@nomorecoldcalling.com.