Sales Communication Skills: How to Close a Sale

(This is the third in a series of posts about sales calls. For our take on starting the process with Cold Calling, check out our post here. For our take on Leading a Sales Conversation, check out our post here.)

Closing a sale is all about helping. You can't deliver any value until they say yes.

You’ve made the initial approach. You’ve detected interest. You’ve gone through the consultative process of identifying their Not-So-Happy NOW and their Happier FUTURE. You’ve talked about the parts of your offering that you believe will provide the bridge from their NOW to their FUTURE. They’ve asked their questions, and you’ve answered them to their satisfaction.

The next thing to do is discuss action steps. It may be time to ask for them to buy, but maybe not. There are so many variables to take into account — the number of decision-makers involved, the nature of the offering ,the size and scope of the work, to name just a few — the next step may not be the purchase. So have a conversation that gets clear on what the next steps are.

Whatever the next step of the process is, try to own as much of it as possible. If they ask for you to deliver a proposal, schedule a time when you can present it to them face-to-face. If they need to check with someone on their end, ask if they’d like you to come in and present what the two of you have discussed with the other decision-makers.

And if they say they’d just like some time to think it through, ask them if you can help them with that process.

As a perpetual purchasing procrastinator, I often ask for time to think things through when I’m on the receiving end of a sales conversation. And what happens is, I think about the question of whether to buy or not for about five seconds, and then my mind finds the next thing to think about, and my unresolved question just adds to the clutter in my mind.

So if your prospect asks for time to think it over and there really is no other discernible reason for them to not decide right now, tell them again that you want to help. Like this: “You know, the last thing I want to do to you today is give you yet another question to have to process on your own time. I know how busy you must be, and how many things you must have competing for your attention. So how about this: Let’s take five more minutes and just talk it through one more time and see where we end up. If the answer is no, then you don’t have to think about it anymore. And if the answer is yes, you won’t have to do anything because I’ll get the process started.”

See what a cool story that tells? The prospect is already swimming in unresolved questions, and you’re there to help their situation. So by continuing the conversation, you’re providing a service that will lead them to resolution no matter what.

There is only one action that you can’t own in the sales process, and that is the single most important action, the one that everything else rides on: The prospect has to say yes for anything to continue.

You can’t own it, but you can facilitate it.

And the first thing to do in facilitating it is recognizing when the moment is right. Recognizing that everything else has been taken care of. You’ve handled all their questions, all their concerns, all their hesitations. Every action step has been taken, and all that’s left is for you to ask for the sale.

Recognizing this moment can often bring a lot of internal pressure, anxiety, stress, discomfort. What if they say no? What if all this time and effort is wasted?

There are many ways you can respond to this pressure. You can stave off the question by not asking, and hoping they volunteer. Or you can steamroll right through the process, losing your cool and your trusted position in their minds in the process.

Or you can use it to amp up the attention that you are giving your prospect. It’s not a bad thing that you feel pressure around this moment, so don’t fight it. Allow the pressure and benefit from it by appreciating it and turning it into fuel for your focus on them.

Now all that’s left is to actually ask them to take the step: When would  you like to start the service? How would you like to pay for the product?

Remember, you’ve been there throughout this conversation just to help them. You’ve mutually explored the conversation of how you can help them, and you’re in agreement on how you can deliver that help.

But you simply can’t deliver that help without their say-so. They need to say yes for them to get the value that you can provide. It would be great if they were inspired to make the decision without you asking, but you can’t expect that or rely on it, because even when purchasers recognize the value for themselves, they hesitate. They need that nudge from us, that notification that now is the time to take the action and get the ball rolling.

So you’re actually providing a service to them by asking for the sale. Just like everything else you’re doing in the conversation, you are helping your prospect by inspiring them to act and move forward.

What do you think? Does this process help you keep the conversation moving forward toward definition action and resolution? Give us your thoughts and questions below!