Here's why you weren't able to close the sale

Taken from TheBizPlace
An article by Jeffrey Gitomer, May 2007

Everybody wants to close the sale -- you, your manager, your manager's boss and on up to the chief executive.

Everybody wants you to close the sale -- except the customer.

Customers don't want to be closed, and they hate salespeople who try to close.

Customers want to buy.

Historically in the sales progression, the close comes at the end of the sales cycle. But what you do at the beginning of that cycle will most likely determine what happens at the end.

After a six-week courtship, you can't say to the customer, "I know I haven't been really good at presenting a compelling message, and I know I haven't proved my value against the competition, and I know our price is higher -- so do you want to buy?"

In that scenario, customers aren't going to buy; they're going to laugh at you.

Most salespeople blame the prospect when they can't close a sale. But it's not the customer's fault. It's your fault. You have to start with your outlook. You have to visualize the sale taking place before you walk into the room, and you have to be prepared.

Try this: Change your mindset. Don't close the sale. Assume the sale.

A good ending must be decisive, set up and inevitable. You have to be engaging, and you have to offer a compelling message. You have to be prepared with testimonials from other customers, and you have to prove the customer will have a positive outcome.

There are two prerequisites that make the assumptive close possible:

1. Your personal preparedness. In your company, people assume everything revolves around your product or service. But that's not true. You have to find a balance between product preparedness and mental preparedness. You must display self-confidence, have total product knowledge and exude so much enthusiasm that it's contagious.
2. Your sales preparedness. You know the prospect's motive to buy. You've established yourself as a person of value in the mind of the prospect. The prospect has confidence in you.

You've removed any perceived risks the prospect may have. And you've built solid rapport. Your job is to know everything you can about the prospect's business -- its needs, customers and employees. You know how the prospect makes a profit.

Now you're ready to close the sale. Better stated, you're ready to bring the selling process to a happy ending.

Remember: A sale is always made. Either you sell the prospect on yes, or the prospect sells you on no.