Closing the Sale Experience
Posted on November 19th, 2008
Too few of the salespeople asked prospective customers about their business.
When salespeople execute a sales call few bother to pop the question. This hesitation is understandable because it takes some guts to deal with the finality of an answer. But not all answers are final, if you know how to play it.
About 3 years ago, I need to step into the transgression on behalf of a client who couldn’t seem to pull the trigger. I was giving pieces of advice to the head of a large manufacturing company-let’s call him Big Cheese. He was planning to buy a division of a European manufacturing company that was then sale. P175 million was the price. Cheese was searching to do a leverage buyout and needed a private equity firm to back the deal. I set the meeting with the well-connected Wall Street shop – lets’ call it Big Bucks.
It meeting started well. Both Cheese and Bucks got along so swimmingly. Cheese harped on the capabilities of his management team and the huge returns the agreement would operate. As the conversation continued, it reached a logical pause-it was a time for Cheese to ask for Buck’s business.
We waited.
Came to realize, the close wasn’t coming. So, I did it. In most business deals, there are three possible answers to a big question.
First is the Yes, it is the best of all answers. Once you get it, don’t hang around because there’s such a thing as buyer’s remorse and plenty of salespeople have talked themselves right out of business they already bagged.
Another is No, next best answer. It is not all bad. It gives the salesperson the opportunity to reflect the objection made by his soon-to-be business partner. No is also a response to a difficult decision and always expect it.
The hardest of all is Maybe, it doesn’t come with hard objections and makes salespeople sweat. Always remember, as a salesperson asking for the business is important. Being prepared for any answer will let you close the deal.
