The most effective sales techniques for closing deals

Effective deal closing begins right from the start of client engagement through proper qualification, genuine conversation, and attentive listening rather than relying on end-stage closing techniques. The most successful sales approach involves understanding client problems deeply and building relationships that make clients want to buy from you.

• Know your ideal client and the specific problem your product/service solves
• Qualify prospects effectively to ensure you're talking to the right people
• Operate from an abundance mindset rather than fear of scarcity
• Focus conversations on clients' needs instead of talking about yourself
• Listening attentively differentiates you from most salespeople
• By the time you reach the formal close, clients should already be 75% committed
• Proper client engagement leads to repeat business and valuable referrals
• The three key techniques: know your avatar, qualify effectively, and master conversation through listening

Please remember to like and subscribe to the podcast. There's a link in the description to a free one-hour webinar where I cover these closing techniques in more detail.

Chapters

• 0:24 Introduction to Effective Deal Closing
• 1:26 Starting to Close from the Beginning
• 3:09 Qualification Process and Client Conversations
• 5:47 The Power of Genuine Listening
• 9:16 Building Client Commitment and Referrals
• 12:45 Key Techniques Summarized

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

Hello again. One of the questions that comes up most frequently, I would say, is what is the most effective way, what's the most effective technique for closing deals? So I'm going to take you through that Now. Before I start, please remember to like and subscribe the podcast, and also there is a link in the description to a free one-hour webinar where I actually do cover this in more detail. So this podcast is more of a kind of key points and hopefully a reminder for you if you've already been on one of my courses or you're maybe forgetting some basics.

Speaker 1: 0:55

So the best way to close deals. Well, the very first thing I would like to say and I've seen other sales trainers teach sales this way, and what they teach and this might be familiar to you is that they'll talk about, particularly during a client meeting. They'll talk about how you open, how you do your pitch, how you might do a demonstration, and then how you close, and in my opinion, that's not how you close a deal. So, in my opinion and also I'm coming from a place where, first of all, I'm only looking for win-win solutions for client and salesperson I'm also regarding the salesperson as being somebody who is there to help the client to be successful. So this might give you some clues about where I'm coming from, but the most effective way to close is to start closing right from the very start. So what do I mean by that? So the first thing is to really understand who your ideal client is and what the problem is that you solve, because that's what you're there for.

Speaker 1: 2:03

Salespeople don't pardon clients. Don't invite salespeople in because they're lonely. They want to chat, they want to play a game, or not usually. Anyway, the reason that they will break off and I'm going to assume these are busy people, but the reason they break off from what they're doing is that they've got a real problem that is keeping them awake at night. It might be costing them money, it's definitely a concern to them and they need a solution, and that's what they're looking at from you. So, having said that, to start closing right from the beginning, you need to be talking to somebody who has the problem that you can solve, and then it's a case of taking them through the stages that will basically result in a deal being signed. So how do you do that? So, first of all, you use qualification process.

Speaker 1: 2:55

I talk about this a lot. So you're qualifying out the people you don't want to talk to, and that leaves you with the people you do want to talk to. So obviously you're qualifying in, but the reason I describe it this way is that I see a lot of salespeople particularly if they're struggling, they'll come up with reasons why they should keep somebody in the process who really shouldn't be there. They're basically afraid of turning potential clients away, and it's that scarcity, that fear of scarcity. They don't believe there are enough clients out there, and so they're always coming from a place of there's not enough. If you flip that around and come from a place of there's lots of clients who want what you offer, so you can pretty much pick and choose who you want to sell to. That's a much healthier kind of position to come from.

Speaker 1: 3:46

I've spoken about the energy you get from people when you're with them, when you're talking to them. I'm not going to repeat that in this podcast, but if you want to listen to that, I think it was a couple of podcasts ago, so I talk about that in a bit more detail. Ok, so what have you done so far in this closing process? You've made sure you're talking to the right kind of person and you now take them through the steps. So, having determined that they are a good fit for you, you then have a conversation with them, and I did another podcast a little while ago about how to have a conversation, and this might sound really basic and it is very basic, but the sad thing is that most people and I will stand by this they actually have no idea how to start a conversation, certainly a sales conversation, because what most people do is they start off by talking about themselves, and by that I mean they're talking about the product, they're talking about the company. They might bring out a brochure and step through it, but it's all about them and, again, my opinion, it's completely the wrong way to do it.

Speaker 1: 4:54

You want to be finding out about the client, so it's really important that you start asking the client questions about themselves, about the problem they have. You get a feel for budget, you get a feel for how important it is, how quickly they want to move, what are the key features, what are the key problems that they need your solution to solve for them. And while you're having this conversation, a couple of things are happening. So the first one is you're getting a really clear view of what the client is looking for, and in doing that, you've got a pretty good idea how good a match you're going to be now that you're diving into the detail of what they want. So, if you like, the initial screening is strategic and now we're going tactical and we're getting in nice and tight and sorting it out nice and tight and sorting it out.

Speaker 1: 5:46

The second thing that happens and this comes back to building rapport with clients, which is really important is that if you are clearly listening to the client and what I mean by that is really listening to them and asking them questions to get clarification and being really really clear about what they want, and not just sitting there and the client says something, you think, oh, we can do that, and your mind wanders off and then you're just waiting to speak, you're waiting for them to shut up, you're not listening anymore. So you want to do the first one, so you really want to be there and focused on them, and the reason that this is so important is that very, very few people in my experience and I mean very, very few actually do that, and I have done coaching for a while, so I've coached people, and one of the things that I learned in coaching school was that if you sit and listen to somebody, there's a fair chance that you might be the first person perhaps in their whole life who's actually just sat and listened and really heard what they're saying. And I really want you to let that sink in, because you're not there. To give them therapy, I'm suggesting but they are likely talking to other salespeople and put yourself in their shoes. If they have spoken to five salespeople so far and every one of them has just done the standard thing started talking about themselves what a great company they work for, how good they are, how many awards they've won, get the brochure out, talk through that, but the client's barely been able to get a word in.

Speaker 1: 7:30

And then you come along and you sit back and you're listening to them, listening to them describe their problem. You're asking intelligent questions like how is that a problem for you at the moment? And so what would be the top three things you would need the solution to deliver for you? Those kinds of questions that really encourage the client to dive deep and get really specific about what they want. What do you think the experience of that client is when you salesperson number six pop along and you are really listening to them. What do you think you've just done for your chances of closing the sale?

Speaker 1: 8:05

So, although it may come across as I don't know, flippant, possibly, maybe not that serious when I start talking about you, close right from the beginning this particular section of the sales process where you are clarifying, defining what the issue is and how good a fit you are. This is absolutely vital when it comes to closing, because the chances are again I know I use that phrase a lot, but I think it's a fair one to use that the client will start to want to buy from you, rather than these other people who really don't care, they're not that interested in the problem that he or she has, they really just want to pitch, they want to get the deal and then they're gone again, whereas with you, you've actually sat down, you've listened, you've made notes. You seem to be genuinely interested in solving their problem for them. Who do you think they're going to want to buy from? And if somebody wants to buy from you, you're already more than 50% of the way there. So this is really really important.

Speaker 1: 9:10

From there we go through whatever the rest of the sales journey is for you. It might be a loan. It might be a demonstration or you might go straight for the close and there are closing techniques you can use that make things easier, so I'll go through those in the webinar. I'm not going to go through them in the podcast, but I give you information there In the course I do. There's a lot more options, so you've got a whole set of options you can use in your back pocket.

Speaker 1: 9:41

But I think the key thing is is to make sure that early process is done well and it's done effectively, because once you've done that, by the time you get to the close, when you're asking for the order, the client is likely to be at least 75% committed to you at that point, whereas if you use the kind of sales approach that I've heard other people teach, that I've seen in action and I've seen it not working when I've coached my own sales teams. This is one of the things that I would really get them to work on. And I remember even going in with a guy I'd gone over. He was in New Zealand, so I'd gone over for a few days and I made him one morning. I made him leave all of his brochures in the car and the reason for that was to make him sit down and have a conversation with people and not just pitch at them, which was sort of how he did things, and he did find that hard and he was quite open about that. But on the other hand, he started getting much more effective at closing deals, because for the two reasons One, he can understand the problem a lot more, so he knew what he should be offering, and secondly, the client was much more disposed towards him because he'd spent the time to sit and listen, make notes, take care that what he's offering is appropriate for that client.

Speaker 1: 11:04

So if you don't do that, though, if you use the just pitch at them approach, then by the time you get to the actual close, if you're lucky, you may be at 50% committed to buy from you. That's really not a good place to be when you're right at the end of the process. You need to be high up, you need them to be wanting to do business with you. And then and not only that, because what then happens assuming that you've given them the appropriate solution, of course. But what then happens is a couple of things. They'll come back, they'll buy more from you and they'll also give you referrals. They'll talk you up whether it's so it might be, so you might get a trust pilot review. You might get referrals to colleagues, to other people they know in the same industry. Presumably you're looking at similar types of companies anyway as other clients. So you already and when you get a referral, you've already got a head start. When you go in to see someone, they're already warm to you. It's not a cold visit. They have already heard from somebody who is neutral how good you are and how good your solution is, hopefully when you delivered it, and so they're already at least 50% committed to buying from you.

Speaker 1: 12:14

And pretty much at that stage it's for you to blow the deal, not to win it. And I hope that makes sense because this is so important. And I do stress it because it's something I've seen again and again in sales and it makes me cringe every time I've had sales training where the trainer has taken this approach that you do this close at the end. And the previous bit is all about how you pitch and all this sort of stuff and frankly, to me it's complete nonsense and that is not how you do this job. So I won't get passionate about it.

Speaker 1: 12:48

Um, so that is pretty much what I wanted to cover in this podcast. It's a little bit shorter than the others, but I hope, uh, it's given you some real value, because this really is the key technique. Um, I suppose the techniques if you were to lay them out one by one, it would be be to, first of all, know your avatar, know your offer, know who you're aiming at, know what problem you're solving would be the first one. The second one is knowing how to qualify. So have a few questions, maybe three or four. It doesn't have to be a lot, but they will tell you very, very quickly whether or not this is somebody you can help.

Speaker 1: 13:27

And again, you are there to help them. This is the approach to take. So there's the qualification process and then, when it comes to the meeting and this is the core of what I teach it's the face-to-face sales. It is about listening, having a conversation and listening. Now, again, in the sales course, I dive through this in a lot more detail and why it's so important. But if you don't want to do the course, that's your choice. That's fine, but take this as your takeaway from this podcast to sit and listen.

Speaker 1: 13:58

So by the time you've gone through those three stages, you are talking to somebody who you know you can provide a solution for and you've already started to build a really effective rapport with them, and there's a very good chance that, by the time you've finished the one-on-one meeting with them, they are already very heavily disposed towards buying from you and that you want clients who want to buy from you. It's so much easier when you do that. Okay, that is it for this podcast and I will speak to you. And if you do have any questions, by the way, anything you'd like me to cover, please let me know. You have my email address. You can put a comment in the podcast comments. Just get in touch and let me know. Okay, I hope you found that useful. Bye for now.