Is the idea of closing a sale a bit daunting for you? Perhaps thinking of it like this will help? Closing a sale is just asking someone to do something for you, and you for them. It’s something that you do every day of your life without even thinking about it.

In this, part 5 of the cross selling series, I will discuss how to close the sale. These methods are particularly relevant to professional services, but you can adapt them to your situation.

• The Negative Approach: I’m not overly keen on using negative forces when selling as they tend to be about creating fear, however they can be used to good effect when your product or client are about to undergo external changes, such as new legislation. For example, you could talk about the costs to their business that would result from non-compliance to the new legislation, and how your company’s services can help them assure their compliance with the new laws.
• Pros and cons approach: You want to seem balanced and fair in your argument. So start with a few negative points, before you counter them with a greater number of strong positive points. The negative should always come first, it makes a psychological difference.
• The Direct Approach: The most direct approach is just to ask for their business. You’ve covered all the bases – shown them the features, advantages and benefits of your product and handled their objections – so just ask if they want to start working with you!
• The Rule of Three Approach: For this one, give your customer three reasons to sign the contract. Don’t do more than three or you are in danger of talking yourself out of a sale.
• The Assumptive Approach: You can try making the assumption that you are going to work together. If your discussions have gone well and you feel that there are no more objections to overcome, then you can say something like: “when can we pencil in a start date for this project?” Your client will soon put you right if you’ve assumed wrong. And if you were wrong, deal with it gracefully as you haven’t necessarily lost the sale.
• The Time Treatment Approach: This is similar to the Negative Approach, just give them a reason to hurry their decision, for example an imminent price hike!
• The Return on Investment Approach: This one uses the value of your product and the return on investment that it represents to your client as the key weapon in closing the sale. Just show how your product will save them money in future or add value to them in a way that will appeal to them.
• The Ego Approach: Very few people are immune to flattery and it can be a successful closing tool, as long as you don’t make it too cheesy. Similarly, empathy can be a good tool for closing the sale: showing that you are on the same wavelength as your client makes them understand that they are being offered an opportunity to work with someone who shares their concerns for their company.
• The Creating Desire Approach: Use people’s natural aspiration to your advantage. This could mean namedropping any other projects you are working for with clients who are well known in the field (as long as they don’t breach client confidentiality), mention any interesting or widely-recognised work that you or a colleague are doing, and use references to good effect!
• The Discount Approach: Last but not least, this approach consists of giving your client a financial reward for signing with you, in the form of a discount or added service. The most important thing here is to make your client feel that they’ve worked hard for the discount!

The essential thing when closing a sale is to develop your own style that you feel comfortable with!

If you have questions, you know how to contact me!