The Modern Art of Closing A Sale

Closing a sales deal is as much about being ethical and offering how you can actually help the client as anything else. The way you’re going to get repeat business from someone is by being clear, helpful, and assertive in what you do and demonstrating that you can perform your work at the highest level. Today, I want to discuss closing a sale and how I think it is best done.

Closing A Sale Is First and Foremost About Closing

Now, I’ve heard a lot of my clients’ sales calls recently and more often than not, they seem to be shy about actually closing the deal. The conversation seemingly has no direction, little focus, and sounds more like a chat over a few drinks than an actual business transaction.

Newer businessmen are too quick to let their customers lodge questions about all manner of things. When a question is asked, there’s no need to answer every single thing the potential customer inquires on.

If you’re running the type of business model that I’m implementing, heavily utilized YouTube and free content (links), you’re already offering so much value you don’t need to reiterate the same points over and over again to respond to every question. Once you’re on the phone, you’re not there to continue giving advice free of charge. You’re there to be closing a sale.

Offer A Sale Worth Buying – Know Your Customer

Before you get them on the phone, you need to gather all the data on the potential customer you can. You should ask what they need, how your business applies to their larger goals, and why you’re qualified to teach them. Once you have enough information to evaluate the likelihood of a potential partnership, you can make them an offer.

You can roll into your pitch with something clear, concise, and value-offering. Something along the lines of, “Okay we can do something with this. How about a one-hour coaching call, worth $100? I’ll prepare the call, give you an entire blueprint of my best ideas for your product (or service), and you’ll pay me $100 for this work?” 

What A Sale Is NOT

Assuming their up for this arrangement, you need to get a deposit or a full payment then and there. If you don’t get the deposit or full payment, you don’t have a sale. You don’t have a sale if they say, “Cool, let’s talk tomorrow”. You don’t have a sale if they just “okay sounds good”, and you definitely don’t have a sale if you continue to answering questions for them, as mentioned before. You have a sale if you get money in your bank account.

To actually get that money in your bank account, you have to tell them, “Okay, you need to pay something now”. If they sound surprised or confused by this, again clarify yourself that now is the time for payment. That is closing a sale.

Postponing The Sale As A Last Resort

If needed, you can add, “You can have a refund after the call if you don’t like it, and you’d be the first to request one, but yes, you have to pay now”. They may give you reasons why they can’t pay you. They may give you counter-offers. In this case, set up a time to talk to them, and have them pay you then.

However, waiting for payment or discussion on another date has its own set of headaches. Then you have to remind them to pay if you train them before payment. So that’s it’s own form of investment. You’re going spend time remembering, putting it in your calendar, pushing him or her towards their agreement. The more time you spend reminding them, the less time you spend getting more sales.

What Does A Sale Look Like?

A sale isn’t a car dealership hard close or anything like that. It’s not a “by any means necessary” sort of thing. A sale is a form of consulting. I make sure that I’m offering what they’re looking for. If it’s something they don’t need, then I simply say, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you… it’s just not what I do”.

For example, I had a client who simply had to hire two new people. I told him directly, “Look, all you need to do is hire two new people, I’m not going to charge $100 for a one-hour coaching call just to tell you that you need to hire two new people. Just hire two new people, you already know how to. Now, if you have other questions down the road that require my expertise, maybe we can do that, but as of right now all you need is to hire”.

The Modern Sale Is Ethical

So, when you’re offering something, you don’t want to ruin someone’s business with your greed or the ego validation of coaching someone about something they don’t really need. You just want to help them if you can help. This way, you’re always coming from a good place and you’ll have repeat customers because they know they’re paying for what they need.

The modern sale is about ethics, clarity, and assertion of your skills. Don’t use people but also don’t be used, and you will see your business built on a consistent client list who keep coming back, provide referrals, and help reiterate that you’re a business worth doing work with.