Can’t close a sale?

It’s not because you need closing skills. It’s because you need selling skills. Better stated, you need relationship-building skills, questioning skills and communication skills.

Every salesperson wants to know how to close a sale. Even more want to know why they can’t close some specific sale. They write me, call me, get frustrated and buy books on the subject, They get rejected, stalled and lied to by their prospects.

Here’s a clue: Forget closing tactics. They’re worn, awkward and manipulative. What you have failed to uncover is the prospect’s motive to buy what you’re selling. What you really need is a better strategy.

Here are 4.5 self-evaluations and idea-generators that will put your inability to close in the proper perspective.

1. Start with questions that make the prospect consider new information. Question them about the specific value of what you sell. Ask them what happened the last time they purchased what you sell. Ask them how a purchase will affect their profit or productivity.

2. Look at the way you present your product or service. Is there room for more interaction and feedback? Is there an opportunity in your presentation for the prospect to talk? What percentage of the time does the prospect talk? How compelling is your message? How polished are your presentation skills?

3. Ask questions that make the prospect looks good: Ask for their opinion. Ask for their feelings. Ask for their expertise. Ask for the benefit of their experience.

4. Ask for the order in a way that’s assumptive rather than cornering. For instance, “assuming we pass this test today, Mr. Jones, when would be the perfect time to begin (deliver)?”

4.5. Keep in mind that when your prospects are not talking, talk are formulating impressions and opinions of you and what you sell. They are deciding yes or no while you talk. The more you let them talk, the easier it will be to get those feelings and impressions revealed. If you talk, you’re selling. If they’re talking, they’re selling themselves.

You have to think of a failure to close as a symptom of a larger problem. You have to look at your selling process from the beginning and find out where the problems or barriers are. If you do, you’ll find out where the opportunities are to solidify a purchase before you get to the closing of the presentation.

It seems so logical to complete a sale during the presentation rather than the end. Why doesn’t everyone do this?   One reason is that it takes more preparation, more personalized information, more self-study before the presentation. Another is because many of the people who teach sales are still stuck in the ’70s.

By far the biggest reason is that you, the supposed master salesperson, are unwilling to change your backwards pattern of: gain rapport, probe, present, overcome and close. As long as you feel the need to close, you will be stuck there.

Take a different view. Measure success from the front of the sales process rather than the end. Walk in. Tell the prospect that you feel he or she should buy from you and that you’ll make a presentation to confirm it. Then tell the prospect, “If at any time during my talk you decide not to buy, just ring this bell (gong). If you don’t ring, I expect at the end you’ll sign the contract. Is that fair enough?”

As far-fetched as this may sound to you, I assure you that it beats trying to close. Stop thinking “close,” and instead establish a strategy throughout your presentation that generates a “buy.”

Free GitBit. Want more ideas on the close? They’re yours by going to www.Gitomer.com. Register if you’re a first-time user and enter the words WHY THEY BUY in the GitBit box.

President of Charlotte, N.C.-based Buy Gitomer, Jeffrey Gitomer gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service. He can be reached at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.