How To Close More Sales By Having Your Customer Sell For You

[jerry1952]

The ultimate goal for any sales person is closing the sale. That is how we get paid, and it is the bottom line statistic that defines our competence and ability. The problem with this is also that this becomes the biggest reason why so many sales people fail to make that sale. They do everything they were trained to do, yet despite all that, they keep coming up empty handed, and are left standing there, scratching their heads, and wondering what went wrong. If this becomes a chronic thing, they may even begin to doubt their own abilities, and that’s when that dwindling spiral takes hold.

The reason why so many good sales people don’t hit their stride is because they are trying far too hard to make that sale. They are doing everything right, but they are OVER closing their customer. By pushing too hard to make the sale, they cause their customer to naturally don heavier sales resistance armor and fight back. Once a sales presentation becomes adversarial, all is lost, and the salesman might as well just walk away, and toss in the towel. Adversaries want to win. They want to win at all costs. Even if a customer thinks they may be wrong, they will never admit it to their adversary. The more they are pushed into a corner, the harder they are going to fight to push back and out of that position.

Having the “perfect responses” to objections won’t add up to anything, if your customer feels they are being cornered. Winning an argument with your customer, will only result in being told a final and resounding NO, and no one truly wins, when that happens.

The most effective way to close a sale is to have your customer sell themselves. Let them come to the decision that making the buying choice is THEIR idea. When a customer or when anyone believes that an idea is theirs, they buy into it lock, stock and barrel. They will defend their decision to move ahead with the sale, with as much passion as they would if they were fighting against you. The sales pro realizes this, and utilizes this on every sales presentation.

Doing this is not all that difficult. One of the simplest ways is to use a lot of questions that tie your customer down, and commit them to making a positive buying choice. Using questions such as:

“Mr Customer, how do you see this working for you?” or
“What would be a great way to use this?” or
“Do you see how this would solve your problem?”

See?

These type of questions have your customer taking OWNERSHIP of the product you are selling. This is vital for making the sale. As your customer becomes more and more comfortable with owning and using the product or service you are offering, they will literally convince and sell themselves on buying it.

This is why many furniture, car, audio, hardware, etc sales professionals make it a habit to put the product they are selling into their customer’s hands as fast as possible. When someone is holding or sitting in something, they naturally begin to feel an affinity for it.

Don’t work so hard at selling. Let your customer do all the hard work. Just give them to opportunity to own it.

See you at the top!

[InsomnicBrain]

Great Post and thanks for the tip.