Close More Sales This Summer with Top Closing Techniques

Ever feel like you’re a professional presenter? Going into home after home, watching homeowners nod in agreement, be friendly, and ask you to leave your quote because they need to think about it.

Somehow, they never quite finish thinking about it, or when they do finish, they’ve decided to buy from someone else.

Since the average closing ratio is 32%, that leaves 68% who do just that. Yet the vast majority does buy something, and sadly, they may be using your bid as a negotiating tool or for comparison. So you did the work; someone else gets paid.

There are 3 parts of a sales visit: the presentation, the proposal, and the close. The presentation sets up the others and vastly improves your closing ratio, but it’s at the close that even great presenters get jittery.

Here’s how you boost your closing ratio:

1) The Presentation is when you gather the info you’ll need to close. This is generally done with a “Home Survey” (do not call it an estimate!) They are answers to specific questions that “build” the prospect’s solution. You’ll use Trial Closes at this point to gauge interest, and a powerful Presentation Binder to allay fears and make comparisons to other products, even competitors. (Yes, I said competitors. This is the most effective way to overcome shopping and build your credibility.)
2) The Proposal is where you “reframe” the prospect’s exact answers and put them on your proposal form. Your form had better be like a “sales script” and not some generic form that only you can follow. Fill it with guarantees, benefits, and solution statements. It’s best to show the prospect a “good, better, best” approach to pricing, with “best” clearly being a superior choice. Then you go right into…
3) The Close. If you’ve done your presentation properly, you eliminated the objections on “thinking about it”, “price is too high” and “our system works fine”, so the close is natural. The Return on Investment close is one of my favorites. You simply state that,

“Mr. Prospect, you’ve already seen that this new will solve your problems – in fact, our company will discount this by the price of your last repair so that won’t be thrown away – plus you won’t have another repair bill to worry about for . Your new will also solve the other problems you’d mentioned in the Home Survey, so your enjoyment, satisfaction, and property value will all increase.

“Since you know that each day you delay costs you more, and we have a available today, doesn’t it make sense to start saving now?”

As mentioned, this is just one of about 17 closes that our top consultants recommend, so there are many ways to close using logic and emotion, which is important. People buy on emotional reasons, but want logic to support those reasons. A perfectly crafted sales close does both.

Negotiators
Sure, there are those who “want a deal” and balk at anything resembling list price. Anyway, you can close a negotiator usually with one question. When they say, “Your price is $4680. Will you take $4500?”

Only if you know you can accept this price do you say, “If I can accept that, do you want to schedule the today?” You see, there are always ways to trim the fluff out without sounding rude or pushy and end up getting the sale.

Summary
Present your solution as a service to prospects, and close on the strength of those solutions. If a prospect doesn’t close on the first attempt, you can leave them a “Best Value or $100 Cash Guarantee” form which also guarantees a call back to you for another try. Generally, those who get called back get the job. Good selling!

Adams Hudson is president of Hudson, Ink, a contractor marketing firm. Readers can call Hudson, Ink at 1-800-489-9099 to ask about the HVAC Sales PowerPack a product designed to improve presentation skills and guaranteed to increase sales closes. To get the free 16-page booklet “How to Double Your Sales in 90 Days”, fax your letterhead with the request to 334-262-1115, or visit www.hudsonink.com for other free marketing articles and reports.