Closing: An Essential part of the closing processWritten by Jelani Khalfani
Closing: An Essential Part of Selling ProcessThe ultimate outcome of selling process is to close sale. Closing sale is extremely problematic for most sales people often causing them to lose sight of this vital objective. Studies show that a vast majority of sales people never even try to close sale by simply asking for order. Some marketing executives estimate that as many as 50 % of all sales representatives quit after their first sales meeting and fewer that 12% persist until a buyer finally says “yes”. It is imperative that you learn art of asking for business, or your chances of consistently selling your products or services will be reduced significantly. When a sales presentation is made properly, natural conclusion to transaction is to close deal. Most buyers expect to be asked to take action when your sales presentation is followed to its natural conclusion. At this point in a sale, you do not need to use special closing techniques you simply to ask for business. Closing is actually easiest part of selling process. However, most sales representatives and professionals do not believe that closing is easy, because most of today’s sales training teaches closing process backward. Using a marriage proposal as an analogy, marketing professional Steven Brown in American Salesman suggests that emphasis on presentation and closing skills puts sales or service industry professional in position of a suitor in Victorian England. “He has barely met girl, but convention demands that he propose marriage before he can get to know her. He uses a well-rehearsed speech to try to persuade her of his worthiness. He has no idea of whether his attention is welcome or utterly inappropriate. He’s terrified because everything hinges on her ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. An effective closing process turns sales pyramid upside down, with small point at bottom. Closing should follow a patter similar to today’s marriage proposal. “Will you marry me?” is most often no more than a rhetorical question, of which both suitors should know outcome, provided they have a well established relationship. As Brown suggests, “When he asks for her hand (or when she pops question), he’s pretty sure of getting a ‘yes’. Closing a sales transaction right way is a natural outcome of a relationship that is built on a foundation of mutual respect and trust.
| | Keeping Your Sales Team MotivatedWritten by Frank J. Rumbauskas, Jr.
Sales managers frequently approach me for advice on how to keep salespeople motivated, especially when sales reps get into a rut - and seem to keep slipping deeper into it. Telling managers what not to do usually solves problem. Most managers do things to de-motivate salespeople without even knowing it.Let's take idea of funnels and forecasts, for instance. Funnels and forecasts are important aspects of running any sales operation. Both salespeople and managers need to know where they stand in terms of potential opportunities, and funnels serve to track those opportunities. No successful business can operate and properly plan for future without accurate forecasting. In theory, these are absolutely essential to success of any operation. In reality, however, few words strike terror in hearts of salespeople like "funnel" and "forecast." For most salespeople, term "funnel review" equates to micromanagement, probation and performance improvement plans. Just hearing term is enough to shift a sales rep's frame of mind from positive to negative. He or she suddenly loses enthusiasm and doesn't know why. Many managers increase funnel reviews as performance slips, which causes performance to slip further, and in end nobody wins. Endless funnel reviews, especially if they're not positive, only serve to reinforce salespeople's self-doubts and limiting beliefs. Forecasts are a similar problem, but in different ways. Few salespeople forecast accurately. Nobody wants to fall short on their forecast, so they embellish, exaggerate and make sure numbers add up to where they should be rather than where they really are. This results in managers who expect those numbers, and salespeople who dodge managers because they know they aren't going to perform as forecasted. Then there are salespeople like myself who do exact opposite - since I hated nothing more than having a manager constantly ask me, "When is this one going to close? When is that one going to close?," I intentionally left good deals off my forecast. While it eliminated problem of constantly being asked when all those deals would sign, it created another form of stress in having to deal with consequences of a funnel that fell short of expectations.
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