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Closing the Sale

It is a term that is often used in the sales profession that alludes to the final stage of the selling process. What has always boggled my mind, is why such a negative word such as "close" has been used to commemorate the "opening" of a new account. 

If sales professionals are so frugal about the words they use, why would they pick this word to train our own?

"Closing" prior to the mid-nineties was considered the ultimate part of the selling process. It was the part that we heard exciting speeches on, and read books about. It was the part of the sales process that if we learned how to master, would bring us riches beyond our wildest dreams.

It wasn't until the 90's that sales training started to take on a new emphasis. Although "the close" was still an important part of the sales process, its dominance in training was less stressed. New words like rapport, relationship building and partnering started to surface. The sales process was taking on the newer form of what today's top sales people refer to as "consultative selling". It stresses less about getting the sale on the spot and places more emphasis on 
meeting the needs of the client, even if it requires several meetings.

During my 15 years of selling experience, I have witnessed many sales people who put on a tremendous presentation but fumbled the close. I have witnessed others who tripped up on the presentation but recovered with a spectacular close. Where then does one concentrate their training if one is to become a master of sales?

It is my opinion that the probability of succeeding most of the time, includes doing a spectacular job on the presentation so that the close is less predominant whether you're a strong closer or not. On the other hand, I still rely on a strong close and continually seek out ways to make the sale happen.

The successful sales process will always be a derivative of building emotion. Without getting the prospect emotionally involved, the sale will never happen. As humans, our brains tend to make final decisions using logic. It is the left hemisphere that provides humans with reasoning skills. On the other hand, it is the right hemisphere that most of the sales process must appeal to. The right hemisphere is 
predominately where emotion is derived from, along with imagination, music, and art.

Therefore the presentation must appeal to the right side of the brain while the close must appeal to the left. The timing of the switch is critical. It is at the peak of the emotional state that all great "closers'" know when to switch gears and make the close, so that logic is still blurred with emotion. It is probably for this reason that we are always told to "get the sale on the spot". A further complication comes from the frontal portion of the brain, the place where our past experiences or information is stored. What I might refer to as the "autopilot". The autopilot seems to activate as a back-up system. If logic is blurred with emotion, it is usually the autopilot that stops the prospect from signing on the spot. This is where closing techniques must be used with precision, timing and choice.

The longer one sells a product or service the better one's own autopilot reacts to the prospects reaction. The perfect words at the perfect time. The key here is to get the prospects brain out of autopilot and to do this, it means lowering the defenses of their brain function by getting them to think simply by asking a question.

One of the finest closing techniques called the "reverse close" uses this systematic approach. It reorganizes words to lower the prospect's defenses. If a prospect is believed to be leery of the sales pitch, their brain is already telling them to say "no" well before the close ever takes place. By using the words "do you see any reason why you would not like to join our organization" the client says "no" but indeed has said "yes" thus the name Reverse Close. Another close that still remains popular is called the "Assumption Close". I still to this day marvel at those who master this work of art. This close essentially takes the prospect from the sales process into the close without the prospect even realizing it. It is a smooth progression that rivals the illusion of a magic trick. In this situation the sales person really never does close. In fact, the strategy here is to not give the prospect a reason to start thinking defensively. "If they are waiting for the close to say no and it never comes they usually won't stop the process". The sales person simply goes from presenting the final feature to showing the prospect how to fill out the application and where to sign.

The final closing technique that I find useful, is quite similar to the reverse close. I will call it the "fly-fish" close. It is where you give the client something but take it away just as fast. The strategy here is to work on their emotions. There is nothing more compelling to the emotions as is the "feeling of loss" This strategy can take a number of forms such as deadlines. "Show them something really good but they only get 100% of what you just presented if they sign before a certain deadline" Organizations that use this strategy, literally create programs, products and services with deadlines vs. waiting for a deadline to appear before they can use it.

So where does the controversy end about what close to use, when to use it or whether we need to close at all if we have truly worked in the clients best interest? My answer to this is simple. If we (the client and I) have discovered there is a want and a need and there is no logical explanation that they have given not to go ahead with the purchase, then closing on the client simply expedites the process that will eventually happen anyway. In my opinion, consultative selling is fine for high commissioned items but the world functions on small margins. 

Closing is still a necessity in the selling process. Closing on the first appointment, is still in my books the way to go. On the other hand, if you closed on a client without meeting his or her needs, no one wins over the long run.

John W. Thrasher is the Director of Sales for the Windsor & District Chamber of Commerce, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. John is considered one of the leading experts in North America on selling Chamber of Commerce memberships. For more information he may be reached at jthrasher@windsorchamber.org.

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