I mean you’re the one who’s been guiding the conversation this whole time.
Asking relevant questions and listening to their answers.
Don’t you think it’s more than likely that your prospect is waiting for you to give them guidance.
And instruction on what they need to do to take things to the next stage?
If you don’t take control and tell your prospect what is necessary to commence working with you.
You risk that their interest will gradually cool off and eventually go cold.
Then you have done a disservice to your potential client as well as to yourself.
How many times have you ended a presentation, looked back and tormented yourself with the thought …
“I was so sure she’d come on board, what on earth went wrong?”
Well, did you ask for the sale?
Or did you simply leave it to your prospect to make up their own mind?
Closing is straightforward
There is nothing magical about closing.
You close by simply asking for the business.
Customers actually expect you to ask for the sale at the end of your presentation.
So don’t disappoint them.
If you hesitate when it comes time to wrap up the sale, you affect everything that’s happened during your conversation.
And it presents a confidence issue to your customer.
At the end of your presentation or your strategy session, if you sense that your customer is a good match to do business, simply ask for the sale.
There is no need to feel awkward or shy about this process.
Just weave your question into your conversation so that it feels totally natural.
Here are four examples you can use:
I suggest you chose whichever one feels right for you:
- Sounds to me like you are happy with everything we’ve discussed so far and you’re reading to move forward, am I right?
- Since we’re in agreement that we’d work well together, let’s go ahead and get things started, OK?
- Is there any reason to wait any longer to get this show on the road?
- Now is a great time to get started, what do you say?
- I am getting some positive vibes about us working together, how about you?
If you get a positive response, congratulations you have a new client!
If you get a negative response it means that there are still some mismatches or unanswered concerns in the customer’s mind.
And honestly there is no point in closing at this time.
Instead, loopback and find out what it is he or she is unsure about, then deal with it and ask for the business again.
Just remember …
With consultative selling, closing still counts.