Plenty of employers still list ‘closing’ as a must-have skill on a job advert and plenty of salespeople take pride in their ability to ‘close’ business but is there really any skill in this part of the process?
Not IMO.
Closing is only a natural conclusion to all of the communication from the start of, and during, the sales process.
If, during the early stages of the sales process, a salesperson fails to uncover what problem the customer has, what’s happening as a result of that problem, what emotions the customer is feeling and what outcome they’re needing then it shouldn’t be a surprise when they fail to ‘close’ the opportunity as deal won.
That’s where the skill actually is.
Great questioning and active listening.
- To help understand what’s actually going on and how that’s affecting the customer.
- To help understand why it’s happening and what ‘great’ looks like to the customer.
- To help understand how serious a problem is.
- To help understand how they make purchasing decisions and everyone who’s involved in doing so.
If all of that is nailed down early on then the next step is a proposal which clearly demonstrates that deep understanding and explains in simple terms how you can resolve the problem, improve their lives and make them feel positive emotions.
Issuing a proposal without fully knowing what’s going on, how it’s impacting the customer, what outcomes they’re needing and how they make decisions is a complete waste of time and is extremely unlikely to convert into deal won.
Having an in-depth knowledge early on means a salesperson can retain control over the process from start to natural finish.
So, if your sales deal/won conversions aren’t what your business needs – the ONLY place to assess why is the beginning of your sales process.
‘Closing’ is not a skill – ‘Opening’ is!
