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Truth 22. “Closing the Sale” is About Gauging the Right
Moment to Ask For What You Want
There’s a highly successful communications chief at a large
US government agency who started his career selling Fuller
Brushes door-to-door. Rather than hide his humble past, he
attributes his career success to those first hard lessons
learned from selling. The experience of “cold calling” --
the daily routine of knocking on a closed door, asking for
the sale, and coping with rejection – helped hone skills
that proved invaluable to him in all future jobs,
sales-related or not.
Whatever your job, much of your time at work will be
dedicated to “selling” things to others, whether those
things are ideas, projects, or even yourself. Salespeople
often say that closing the sale is the toughest part of
their role. That stands for all those work negotiations too.
How do you efficiently and effectively get to a point where
hands are shaken, your idea chosen, a new initiative agreed,
or the pay increase offered? The truth is that there is no
easy formula. However, two pieces of guidance hold true.
First, you must openly and explicitly ask for what you want.
The second is that you need to ask when the time is right.
Asking for the sale is about focus. On the one hand, this
means being absolutely sure of what you want to make happen,
and holding this in your head the whole time that you are
speaking. On the other it means noticing the way in which
the other person is responding to you and your words as you
move toward the sale.
The trick is to gradually move that other person toward
commitment, closing the sale stage by stage. The more
difficult the sell the more stages you need. This means that
rather than ask for the endgame upfront you convey elements
of your idea one by one, finding agreement on each. Every
time that the customer nods his or her head, smiles or shows
positive interest to even a small part of your story, you
gain a positive ‘vote’ from him or her, and move closer to
commitment to the broader theme. When you feel that you have
gathered a good number of votes, it’s time to ask for the
real “sale.”
Catharine managed a mortgage services department. With a
batch of mortgages “at risk” she wanted to sell the idea of
an additional person in her group to do an ongoing risk
review. However, her company saw all risk as a central,
shared function. Catharine made her case over two months by
gradually letting her boss know the potential financial
exposure if something went wrong. Her boss became curious
about the numbers involved and felt comfortable with
Catharine’s analysis. When she finally asked for the
additional staff he said, “I was waiting for you to ask.”
Comfort and curiosity are the key words from that story, and
in closing the sale in general. You achieve both by
researching people before you approach them to determine
their key concerns. You can then refer to these in your
interaction. This tactic reassures them that you understand
them and the company, and helps you clearly present them
with a rationale to pique their interest. This makes them
want to continue talking with you because they sense that it
may be in their, and the company’s, best interest.
Many of us flinch at the idea of “selling” because we don’t
like pushing people. That instinct is correct. Forceful
tactics provoke resistance from others, making them
reluctant to continue talking. The smart seller builds a
rapport with the other party, gradually gaining their
support. Then when the moment is right, the most natural and
sensible thing in the world is to ask. If you don’t ask, you
won’t get. |
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