What do you think of when you hear the word “closing call?” Are you filled with confidence, peace, and tranquility? Or are your thoughts crowded with anxiety and stress from the various pressures you are feeling? Now that you are in the bottom of the ninth inning with your prospect, you most assuredly want to finish up with a home run and not a strike out.
As a salesperson, you’ve invested a great deal of your own time and energy into a prospect. A prospect that hangs along there with you up until the very end is one of the toughest losses you can go through in sales. By effectively planning for a closing call you can boost your odds of successfully sealing the deal in that final interaction.
If you only take away one point from this article, this should be it: Always complete all of the background work before entering a closing call. This ensures that you are ready to address any questions, concerns, or a myriad of other complications that might arise during your closing conversation. The five areas below cover aspects you need to know inside and out before you pick up the phone one last time.
Understand Your Prospect’s Requirement
This is something you need to know forwards and backwards as the closing agent. If you are not firm on which exact product your prospect needs and what benefit they will receive from it, it is too early to run a closing call. A great way to keep particularly complex needs organized is to prepare a brief outline or presentation of their key information. Begin your closing call with this material to establish that everyone is on the same page.
Utilize A Coach
The International Coach Federation defines coaching as, “An interactive process to help individuals and organizations develop more rapidly and produce more satisfying results; improving other’s ability to set goals, take action, make better decisions, and make full use of their natural strengths.” A coach is a salespersons best friend. Utilize them. The best way to prepare for possible objections during a closing call is to anticipate them. Here are three questions you may wish to address with your coach:
- What makes my product appealing to my prospect?
- Why wouldn’t they purchase my product?
- What are three objections I might hear on a closing call, and how can I address them?
Appreciate Your Audience
As a salesperson, you are delicately balancing the information of a handful of prospects simultaneously. What a huge mistake it would be for you to bring up the funny story another prospect has told you or to start reviewing crucial parts of another’s account with them!
Refresh your memory on all past interactions you have had with anyone you anticipate to be joining in on the closing call. Review past notes, call logs, or even LinkedIn to make sure you understand each participant’s unique communication and personality style.
Establish a Goal
You are probably thinking to yourself, “Well, duh! In a closing call, the goal would obviously be to close the sale.” While yes this is the main objective, make sure you are speaking in much more specific terms. Do you understand the ins and outs of all of the requirements your prospect has? Do you know which plan will best fit their needs? Is there a certain time commitment either of you are looking for? Make sure all of the final steps that lead to your ultimate goal, closing the sale, are mapped out and well versed.
Determine Your Limits
Before beginning your call, make sure you understand where you can give a little but also at what point you will need to walk away. Ultimately, value and not price should be the focus of this final conversation. Any give on your end should be logical and meet the needs of both parties involved.
You can prevent closing call anxiety by making sure you have successfully planned and prepared for anything that might arise during this final conversation with your soon to be customer. In many cases closing calls are just a formality and when done right, you will hit it right out of the park.
