How to Close Deals Effectively

Closing a deal is the moment of truth. You’ve pushed prospects through the sales funnel, and you’re ready for the final move. Here are the steps to close deals effectively and 7 techniques to try out starting today.

Close Deals Effectively Today

There’s are a number of ways that salespeople can close deals effectively. In this article, we outline the steps that can help you answer the burning question on many a salesperson’s mind: “How do I close a deal?” Then, we get into seven techniques you can try right away.

Find the Decision Maker

Finding the decision-maker is an essential step for qualifying and closing the deal. The sales process starts much earlier, and it is vital to ask the right questions and get quality information from and about your prospect. To get valuable info, you’ll need to talk to the right person, and that is the decision-maker.

 

If you have a warm relationship with the customer, chances are you will speak with the decision-maker. For companies you haven’t built a relationship with, you might get a meeting with lower-level personnel.

 

Your contact could be an internal champion, someone that will actually use your product or service, and can advocate your pitch with the decision-maker. This outcome is better than negotiating with someone who is not a decision-maker nor an internal champion.

You can coach your contact to deliver the message to the decision-maker the way you would. But since other people won’t pitch the sale the way you would, try to do whatever you can to set up a meeting with the right person.

 

Through the series of questions, you will get an insight into the company you’re selling the product and the way they think. With the feedback from the conversation, you should customize the sales pitch to fit the way of thinking and the needs of the prospect.

Create a Sense of Urgency

One of the sales tactics for closing a deal is to make sense of urgency, and don’t mistake it for rushing the buyer.

 

The keyword is the deadline. If you know the companies deadline for getting the solution/product/service, that could be leverage in the sale process. You could also create a deadline mentality. Creating a tempting offer with timeframe and additional value attached to the time of sale can push the prospect and help in closing the deal.

 

The essential thing is to let them feel they are in charge and to see the benefit of closing before the deadline. You should offer something free or a discount. Give the prospect another reason why your offer is the best choice right now.

Do Your Research

When you know the company’s core problem, you can start with the sales process. Doing thorough research of your leads is pivotal for closing the deal. The right CRM solution can help you with managing prospects and organizing valuable information.

 

Not only should you have an in-depth understanding of the product/service you’re selling, but it’s also about knowing how that product is helping the buyer.

Do your research and find out how your prospects work, what are their internal processes, and objectives.

 

Knowing the company and what bothers them will enable you to customize your pitch and focus it around the features that can solve the biggest pain point of your prospect.

Pitch a Solution, Not a Service

As a salesperson, you know your product/service in detail. You might be proud of specific features that differentiate you from the competition. The problem is, the buyer is probably not interested in your cool features unless it solves their problem.

 

The catch is in how you translate features into benefits for the prospect. The buyer is interested in how your product can help solve their issues. Will it help solve the problem? How will they achieve goals with the help of your product? How much money/time/effort will it save?

 

Introduce your offer in a way they can see it as a solution that fits their needs. Don’t try to hassle the buyer with a product that doesn’t work with their workflow or system.

Closing the Deal Techniques

Did you know that it takes four “no” on average before prospects finally say yes to the proposition? That doesn’t mean that all leads will say yes the fifth time you’re trying to close the deal. It is an indication you should not be discouraged with early rejections.

 

All potential clients are not alike, and there are different closing approaches you can take depending on the negotiation development. Read on for our best tips on how to close that deal. We’ve got seven of them for you to try starting today.

7 Close That Deal Techniques To Try

1. The Assumptive Close

The Assumptive close is the technique in which your tone of voice implies the deal is almost closed. The positive thinking without pushing the prospect can spark and engage a potential customer. It can work excellent with well-known companies, and it’s not recommended when trying to build a relationship. Listening to the prospect and assuming the good intent will show you as an authority in negotiations.

2. Now or Never Close

It brings us back to creating a sense of urgency. A salesperson will offer a unique benefit for closing the deal now like 25 percent discount or other freebies/additional features for immediate buy. The idea is to spark engagement in prospects and overcome stalemate positions. Offer needs to contain value to move the candidate into closing the deal.

3. Question Close

You should ask probing questions to find out why some of the things you’re selling are working or not working for the prospect. This way, you will get the opportunity to explain why they need your product/service.

4. The Take Away Close

You have already introduced the prospect to a full array of product/service features, but the deal is not closed. If the price is an obstacle, try removing some of your offerings and reducing the cost. This way, both sides will be satisfied. It’s not a good tactic when the prospect doesn’t object to the pricing.

5. The Summary Close

Opposite to the take away close, the summary close lets you summarize all the benefits/features/options of your product. The prospect can visualize what the sales package includes and what it brings. The summary close could be useful when you know that prospect is a good fit.

6. The Soft Close

Similar to the summary close, in the soft close, you will introduce the product features to the prospect and ask questions without demands or attempts to close the deal. Form your questions in the form of a hypothesis. “If I could help you improve lead generation, would you like to learn more?

7. Sharp Angle Close

You might deal with experienced clients that hear a lot of sales pitches. They might ask you for a discount or additional benefit. You are also aware of this possibility, so you already have approval for giving extra to the prospect. The catch is to give them what they want but at a price. Give them a discount if they sign the deal immediately.

Define Next Steps

You followed our tips for the best way to close a sale, and you did it. But work is not done after closing the deal. It’s time to define the next steps so the aftermath goes as smoothly as possible.
  • Arrange and finalize the signing of the contract and resolve all the paperwork.
  • Provide your new customer with plans on implementation or delivery
  • Set up a meeting with key stakeholders with the customer and arrange the transition/delivery/implementation process
  • Follow up on your customer and ask for referrals. A happy customer is one of the greatest assets and nurtures them after closing the deal. A sales team can utilize sales pipeline enablement software to follow up on satisfied customers.
Are you a sales leader looking to get your team on track? What better way than with sales pipeline enablement software made just for sales teams.
Table of Contents

Share this article

Related Articles