Asking for the sale and shutting up will really help you increase sales and profits
Good news. Your prospects and customers will continue and expand their efforts to get the best deals on the products and services you sell. Yes, they will shop price harder than ever before in 2011. Yes, they will demand more services than ever before. That is the good news for those of us willing to:
- Increase the number of services we can provide for our customer
- Differentiate ourselves and businesses from the competition
- Become more and more aggressive in:
- Learning and using new and different selling and marketing techniques
- Asking for the sale
- Following up after we make an offer and after the sale
- Delivering the service we talk about
- Never letting a customer walk
- Selling benefits – Not features, selling benefits
- Make it easy for the customer to buy from you
There is not one of the five that is more important than another, but I have seen over and over again that the sales professional and yes, even clerks who make it a point to ask for the sale over and over again are more successful than those who only show and talk about their products and services.
I once had a furniture salesman call on me (in my furniture store) and the only thing that differentiated him from a clerk was he asked for the sale. He was terrible otherwise. He never gave me one good benefit to do business with him or the companies he represented. He never once respected my time. He would just show up, open his display books, throw his material swatches on the counter and start asking for the sale.
He would say, “You should buy this three piece set in this fabric and this fabric and this fabric,” as he turned the pages and flipped the material swatches around. Then, without me saying a word, he wrote the three sets down on his order sheet. Then he would move on to another style of sofa, love seat and chair and repeat the process. He repeated it over and over again until he had completely filled out his order sheet. Again, never giving me one benefit or even telling me about the quality of his products.
When he finished he pushed the order sheet over to me and said, “Sign here!” And you know what? After I crossed out a few of the lines, I signed. I knew I could buy furniture that would sell from others and buy it for less, but I was always so enamored that he asked for the sale, I always purchased from him.
When I was training a new sales professional I made sure they were there to see this clerk/sales professional in action. And at the end of the presentation all I said to my sales professional was, “When you ask for the sale as aggressively as this man, combined with showing our customers the benefits they receive when buying from us, you will be successful.”
Another way to ask for the sale – Shut up and close the sale
Another simple way to close a sales is simply by listening for the customer to make a closing statement and then the very first thing you do is SHUT UP and write it up. Every day I see sales professionals, good sales professionals, lose sales because they do not know when to SHUT UP.
While shopping one of the big box home store discounters for a client, I watched a perfect example of losing the sale because the sales professional did not SHUT UP.
A woman standing by the store’s bathroom toilet display asked the salesperson, “Does this toilet come in rose color?” Immediately the salesperson replied, “It comes in rose, it comes in white, it comes in green, red, blue, almond, black, brown, gold….” He named at least another dozen colors. He then, without taking a breath, opened a book and began to read to her how the finish was applied and why it would never mar or discolor. This all took less than a minute and a half. The woman said, “thank you,” turned and left. As she passed me I asked her, “Why didn’t you buy that toilet?” She replied, “He would not shut up and sell it to me.” He missed the closing statement. As soon as she said, “Does this toilet come in rose color?” All he had to do was SHUT UP and write it up.
Are you listening for the customers’ ‘Closing Statements?’ A ‘closing statement’ is anything the customer says that is positive about your product, service, business or you.
- “I like that.”
- “That will work for me.”
- “When can you deliver.”
- “My wife will like that.”
- “Just what I have been looking for.”
2011 will be a great sales and profit year for you if you are willing to:
- BE AGGRESSIVE
- DARE TO BE DIFFERENT
Bob Janet – Sales consultant/trainer, speaker, author of “Join The Profit Club” combines 40 plus years as owner/operator of professional, retail, manufacturing and service businesses with his unique teaching and storytelling ability to motivate, educate and inspire business professionals of all levels and all industries for increased sales & profits. Contact Bob at 704-882-6100, or e-mail Bob@BobJanet.com.
