4 Techniques to Help You Close More Deals
- Identify prospects’ problems/recommend solutions
- Create a Prosperity Mindset to overcome adversity
- Earn the trust of your prospects
- Ask for the business, 3 times
1. Identify problems/recommend solutions
When you are with a prospect, your job is to look for every problem your product or service can solve and let folks know you can solve it. I learned this valuable point from Joe, “The Concrete Guy” when I called him to build some steps from my driveway to my writing shed when I lived high above Colorado Springs in the mountains. Joe came to my home and said he could pour steps which would last longer than my mountain home for about $1000. Then he looked around my place and saw the motorcycle trailer I parked in the dirt beside my driveway. Joe said he could widen my driveway when he came to build the steps, providing a level, dry parking spot for the trailer and adding nearly $10,000 to the bill, but it would certainly solve my trailer parking problem.
I commended Joe on his sales trick to up the ticket, and he replied it was no trick. Pouring concrete in the mountains was all he had ever done since his dad taught him how decades ago. He did not do roofing, painting, or plumbing. When Joe was on a sales call, he looked around for every problem concrete could solve and offered those solutions to his customers. And he made a good living for his family doing it.
This brings me to the essence of my sales process: Your job is to diagnose problems and recommend solutions. Period. Your customer's job is to buy or not to buy. Period. Your job--diagnose and recommend; your prospect's job--buy or not buy. Say it with me: My job is to diagnose and recommend, and my prospect's job is to buy or not buy!
You'll note that part of my process is to “recommend.” That means you must ask for the business--sometimes a couple of times. Once you find the problems, you will simply design solutions and use consistency principles to influence your prospect to take actions consistent with buying from you.
2. Create a Prosperity Mindset
I was driven by epic failures to create an honorable and successful life regardless of any obstacles I might face, and I had developed the confidence that I could actually do it. Nothing was going to hold me back. Nothing was going to get in my way. From the isolation of my prison cell, I had learned how to create a Prosperity Mindset which flourishes in times of adversity.
You can read more about the Prosperity Mindset (and how you can create it) in my book The Power of Consistency. A Prosperity Mindset is a powerful and vital complement to the sales process if you are serious about creating wealth and prosperity in your sales career. Having one without the other is like solving only one part of a puzzle. You need all the pieces to successfully put them together. In my book, Consistency Selling, I outline the sales process I developed and combined with the Prosperity Mindset to create unimaginable wealth and success in my life, despite every conceivable obstacle.
And here is the really cool part: Just like me, you can combine the Prosperity Mindset and my sales process to duplicate my results and create the same unimaginable wealth and success in your life. I possess no special skills, talent, or education, and I strongly believe that anything one man can do, another man (or woman) can do.
3. Earn Trust
It is not enough to be an honest person and depend on your prospect believing you are honest in order to gain trust. As outlined in his bestseller The Speed of Trust, Stephen M. R. Covey teaches us that to create real wealth and prosperity in the sales industry you must engage in specific activities that are designed to communicate high character and high competence. You can't leave it up to chance.
When I began to reap big dividends, I came to truly understand the importance of engaging in specific “trust-building” activities with my prospects. It was a critical step on my journey of becoming a true professional in the sales industry. In my book, Consistency Selling, I talk a lot about the details of how you build trust through high character and high competence.
4. Ask for the Business
Although this last point is simple and obvious, I never cease to be amazed by the numbers of sales people who hesitate to ask for the bid. It's as if they are afraid to offend the prospect, who has indicated a desire for the product or service. My top clients pay me large sums of money to go on sales calls with their sales team members. Time and again, I find myself needing to remind these sales pros to ask for the business. Ask 3 times. It is as easy as saying, “With your permission, shall I write up the order?”” If that doesn’t work, speak of other things and then, ask again, twice. Then you will have done your job. Buying is the prospect's job.
Want to learn more about how to close more deals? Find out more about the Power of Consistency.
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