Choosing the right techniques and phrases to close a sale is crucial to success. Therefore, many sales representatives might feel apprehensive about the close, but without that feeling of fear and risk, closing deals wouldn’t be so thrilling, which drives sales representatives to continuously aim for more.
The traditional wisdom says that companies can create solutions for customers, prospect successfully, and qualify efficiently. Sure, it is essential to attract new leads, make outstanding calls and promote promising opportunities, but the success of the sales department will hinge on their sales professionals’ abilities to close deals on the spot, effectively and efficiently.
Since sales professionals are expected to generate as much sales as they can, a wide number of closing sales techniques have emerged over the years. For that reason, we wanted to highlight the top-rated closing techniques for you and your team to close more sales:
The scale close, commonly known as the gauge close, is when you measure prospects’ interest by simply using a scale to ask how interested they are in your product or service. For example, “On a scale of one to five, with one being ‘Let’s end this conversation now’ and five being ‘Let’s implement this solution right away’, how likely are you interested in moving forward with purchasing?
Using the scale close technique is useful because it gives you clarity on whether you have been effectively communicating the value of your product or service, or not. Likewise, it allows you to address any objections that the prospect might have.
The assumptive close is a sales technique that requires confidence in yourself and your product or service. Here you have to move forward assuming that the prospect wants to buy and that the deal is almost closed. So, instead of asking if they are interested or ready to buy, you will ask how many products they would like, when they want to start the service or when they want the solution implemented.
The key here is to build rapport and be assertive without being aggressive. Because if you sound too aggressive you could ruin the rapport and scare the prospect. Also, for this type of close, it’s important to use it right after you have shared the benefits and value proposition from your product or service, so it’s fresh in the prospect’s mind.
Effective sales professionals focus on closing a sale as soon as they start a conversation, and asking questions is a key approach to achieve this goal. Asking questions is one of the best ways to lead the conversation where you want. For this type of close, probing questions are very important.
Sales professionals use a series of questions to trigger desire and eliminate objections to purchase. They can even close the sale in the form of a question.
For example: "From your perspective, does my proposal solve your problem and address your needs?"
If the answer is ‘yes’, the next step is signing the agreement or proceeding with the purchase. If the answer is ‘no’, it remains their opinion so you could continue with other techniques to close the sale. Asking this question allows you to discover if your prospect is sold on your product or service, while you still have the opportunity to continue with the sales process.
This close is based on the assumption that human beings are attracted to things that are scarce. When people perceive something is scarce, they tend to put more value in the product or service. So, in other words, the take away close is when you give your prospect a limited period of time to make a purchase, before the offer no longer stands. By using this technique with your product or service, besides creating the perception of scarcity, you will be creating FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).
For example, if prospects are hesitant to proceed with the purchase because of pricing concerns, remove a feature or service and present the discount offer to them. The most likely thing is that they will be thinking about the part you removed rather than the discount offered.
Using the soft close is the perfect way to state the benefits of your product or service without making any demands or sudden requests. After showing the benefits, you can ask a low impact question to know if the prospect is open to learn more about your offer.
For example, you can ask "If I could reduce your managerial expenses by 17% and increase your sales revenue by 5%, would you be interested in learning more?"
In the example above, you have stated all the benefits and asked if the prospect is interested in getting more information, without being too aggressive. Nonetheless, if the example seems too direct, you could modify it and ask instead, “if I told you I could reduce your managerial expenses by 17% and increase your sales revenue by 5%, would that align with your company goals?”
This removes any commitment they might feel on the first question, and also gives you more opportunities to learn about their business needs.
Being skilled at the different types of closing techniques is one of the most important tools a sales professional can master. We hope these sales techniques help you and your team clore more deals. Do you have any other techniques on how to close more B2B deals? Please share them with us.
“Quality performance starts with a positive attitude."
Jeffrey Gitomer
Sandra Fernandez is a Marketing Specialist with over seven years of experience in lead generation, digital marketing, market research, and market intelligence knowledge. She is responsible for targeting ideal clients through marketing strategies and digital advertising campaigns. Sandra works with the Port Group sales team to achieve success and increase B2B sales outsourcing services awareness.
