How To Close Sales – A Step By Step Guide
The most important skill for any Sale Professional or Business Owner, is learning how to close sales consistently.
Meaning – you need the framework to consistently close more sales, without being pushy or having to rely on outdated scripts.
In this article we’ll give you 8 x solid tips, so you can learn how to close sales consistently time and time again.
These tips for selling are centred around consultative selling.
This means that you’ll take a question based, and solution approach rather than purely presenting an option up front.
Read on to learn, and more importantly implement these tips to guide you along your sales journey.
How To Close Sales – A Step By Step Guide
How To Close Sales Tip #1 – It Starts With Rapport
The first on our list to learn how to close sales consistently, is to build rapport with your potential clients the right way.
Many people think that rapport means to be over enthusiastic and to be oozing with confidence.
This is an old and outdated sales model – which in fact hurts your sales.
Instead, we recommend building rapport by using matching and mirroring techniques with your body language, tonality and use of words.
Rapport is much more than just appearing to look approachable.
Your dress code will matter, as well as the terminology you use.
To learn how to build rapport the right way, read the linked article below for more detail.
Further reading: A Guide To Building Sales Relationships/ Building Rapport
How To Close Sales Tip #2 – Qualify Before You Deep Dive
Another important lesson on our list of how to close sales consistently, is to qualify – and qualify early.
Many Sales Professionals and Business Owners make the mistake of engaging in their sales conversations and sales process, with people who don’t qualify for their offer.
When qualifying, ensure that you’re meeting with people who are a valid prospect – versus someone who may just be interested or fishing for information.
Important information to learn include:
- Do they have the budget?
- Is it just for themselves, or does someone else make the decision?
- Do they actually need what you offer, or do they need a different solution?
- Can you deliver what they want within the right time frame?
To learn how to qualify effectively, read the related article below.
Related article: Qualifying Sales Leads – A Step By Step Guide
#3 – Position Yourself As A Trusted Authority
How you position yourself to your potential clients can make or break the sale; and is a must if you want to learn how to close sales consistently.
The right positioning means to be viewed as a trusted advisor, rather than just another salesperson.
We recommend that you add something to your sales process called a pre-frame.
A pre-frame is a positioning and objection countering tool we teach in our sales training program called The 5% Sales Blueprint.
In the pre-frame, you want to do the following:
- Let them know you’ll be asking a lot of questions, so that you can learn whether you can in fact help them
- Find out who the decision makers are, and whether they’re all present
- Give them permission to say no if they don’t feel they’re the right fit; and that you too will do the same
The right positioning is one of the most important tips to consistently close sales.
Read the linked article below to learn how to position yourself correctly.
Further reading: Positioning In Sales – How To Sell Effectively
How To Close Sales Tip #4 – What Are Their Pain Points?
The fourth on our how to close sales guide, is learning how to ask the right questions that uncover their pain points.
People buy for two reasons.
To avoid pain and move toward a desired state.
Even if you’re selling B2B, the everyday issues they’re facing have a personal toll on the individuals within the business.
Selling is a human to human activity.
And humans always buy to avoid pain and move towards a desired state.
When asking questions to find pain, we recommend going three layers deep to find the underlying and core reasons as to why they want to buy.
These are:
- Their technical issues
- How it is impacting their business or career
- What is their personal impact
Related article: Pain Points & Sales – Your Ultimate Guide
How To Close Sales Tip #5 – Avoid ‘Premature Presentation’
One of the biggest mistakes Sales Professionals and Business Owners make, is presenting their offer too early.
As per our article in Entrepreneur, premature presentation costs you sales, your reputation, and the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with your clients.
A solution should always be prescribed to an issue or problem; prescribing before learning what these are can be fatal to your sales efforts.
Always prescribe later, rather than too early.
How To Close Sales Tip #6 – Discuss Money
If you want to learn how to close sales consistently – you’ll need to learn how to discuss money and budget early, rather than leaving it right to the end.
When discussing money, it’s important to look at it from a viewpoint of two areas.
First of all – what is it costing them by not taking action?
If they were to do nothing, what does this cost them on a daily, monthly and yearly basis?
By bringing this into context, it’ll help them realise the importance of finding a solution to their issue.
Secondly – what will they be willing to invest in fixing their issue?
Once there’s an understanding of what it’s costing them, you can then contrast that with what they will pay to solve the issue.
When you have an understanding of what this looks like, you can have a better idea of whether or not they can in fact afford what it is that you’re selling.
#7 – Don’t Use Scripts
Many people out there teach that you should be using sales scripts when engaging your potential clients.
There are two issues with using sales scripts.
First of all – your potential client will easily get wind when you’re using them.
People are not dumb – and neither are your clients. If they think you’re using a script, they’ll catch on and you’ll break rapport.
Secondly, how are you realistically meant to remember a script for every single rebuttal or question they may ask?
It’s not good sales business.
Instead, we recommend using a structure.
As per our article in Entrepreneur Media, we discuss the importance of abandoning exact scripts, and to use a framework or structure instead.
By using a structure, you’ll still have a road map to guide you to the sale, but it’ll be flexible enough to slightly pivot when need be.
Being able to pivot is important, because no two customers are the same.
#8 – Invest In Yourself
The last tip in our how to close sales guide, is to improve and invest in yourself wherever possible.
Many people make the mistake of looking at the finish line – because it may seem so far away, it causes inaction, resulting in no change whatsoever.
Instead, remember personal development is all about the micro commitments and improvements.
Invest in yourself by looking after your health, education, and your business and career.
Final Thoughts
Our sales closer tips when help you close more consistently, because you’ll be using a consultative approach – rather than using tacky and out dated scripts.
We recommend going through each area and learning more about each so that you can improve your sales process and overall sales conversations.
If you’re interested in taking your sales to the next level, feel free to register for our no cost 7 Day Sales Challenge here.
Want To Learn Exactly How To Close Sales – Consistently & Easily?
If you’re committed to wanting to learn exactly how to close sales consistently and more easily, then you may be interested in our sales blueprint.
Our online sales training course is self-paced, affordable, and completely online for your convenience.
Click the link below to learn exactly how The 5% Sales Blueprint can help you learn how to close sales on a consistent basis, and will get rid of all the guesswork.