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Julian Blee'S Art Of Closing The Deal - Part 1

Julian Blee’s Art of Closing The Deal Part 1

This is part 1 of the sales closing process and I really do insist that if you want to learn how to close, then you must read this section first. However, I will let you know straight away that I am not actually going to talk about closing the deal in any technical way such as listing different types of closes or any magic lines that will make your client buy from you immediately. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a little for the types of different closes, and as for the magic lines, well, they don’t exist. Sorry.

I don’t want to lead you astray here and encourage you to believe that at the end of this chapter you will be able to close any sales deal that you enter into. But I will tell you that if you take on board what I am about to say, your sales figures, conversation rates and general closing ability will most definitely improve. But you have to see the bigger picture of the sales process first, and not just focus on the close. Look at what leads up to the close, the process that you need to follow in order to successfully exercise the close. That is the crux of this article.

When I first got into the telesales industry in 1990 I wanted to be the best in the business and earn £100,000 a year and drive a Porsche. That’s all that I wanted when I was 21. That seems incredibly shallow to me now when I look at my wants, desires and goals of today. Back then all I wanted was lots of money and a fast German car, probably not unlike a lot of people at that age in sales. I was totally money orientated, my goals were monetary, and my conversations revolved around money, and how I would spend it when I eventually got it. I looked up to the older guys at the brokerage that I worked in, especially the ones who had the sports cars parked in the company car park. I knew that if they could do it, I knew I could do it. The only problem back then was that I had no idea how to sell.

I knew that all of the people at work with fast cars in the car park were good at closing. So my first point of call in the journey of sales was to learn how to close. I was already aware from the sales books that I was reading that selling was a process and that the final point of that process was to close the deal. I remember reading somewhere that there was no such thing as a sales person that couldn’t close. So I made it my ambition to become the best closer in the business, or at least the best at the company I worked at. I read books about closing; I learned different types of closes from the ‘Winston Churchill’ to the ‘1 in 10’ close. I had A4 pages pinned to my desk with closes written out in a script form. And slowly but surely I became good at my job and good at closing. I did get the fast car, the earnings and all the other bits and bobs that go with that type of lifestyle. But the problem is that it took me a long time because I thought back then that it was JUST about closing the deal. I couldn’t have been further from the truth.

I would buy a book on sales training and flick straight to the area that spoke about closes. I would forget all of the other elements in the sales process such as, fact finding, relationship building, and listening etcetera. Don’t get me wrong, I did do these things to a certain extent, otherwise I would have never closed a deal. But they were not of enormous consequence to me; I never stopped for a moment to think about why I didn’t close a particular client. I never stopped to think what I could have done better in order to close him next time; I just threw him on the burnt pile and moved onto the next one. Luckily for me; when I started in sales the UK was going through a boom period and nobody minded too much that I was going through leads like they were going out of fashion.

In hindsight, I wonder how I closed so many deals with such a tunnelled view on sales. Pure absolute desire to win does help an awful amount. But the fact of the matter is that sales is a process. I can’t speak to a potential client for the first time and ask them if they would like to pay by Visa, MasterCard or American Express for my service before I establish if there is a need, tell them about what I have, fact find, qualify, and maybe even throw in a few trial closes. There are many things that I needed to do in the sales process before I actually get to the close itself, and that’s what I want to talk about today.

I used to think that the closing process was just about simply using a closing line that resulted in the client saying yes to the deal. But the fact of the matter is that there is a whole lot more to it than just that. When I first began in sales I would be so keen to get to the end of a pitch so as I could use a closing line on my potential client.
For those of you who are unaware of what a closing line would be I will explain with one of the simplest closes available the ‘Red or Green Close.’

Red or Green Close
"So Mr Prospect, we have spoken about the widget that I have on my books, and you can clearly see that there are a lot of things that this could provide in order to make your life a lot easier, so what would you like to do, (any of the following endings qualifies as a red or green close.)

1. Take delivery of it today or tomorrow?
2. Would you like to take three at the discounted price or just try the water with one?
3. Go with the basic rubber version or have it lined with mink?
4. Take it in red or green?

All that the red or green close does is offer a choice between one option or another and avoids offering the prospect the choice of saying no. These little tricks work to a certain extent. (In my Telesales Tales Training Course I train you to actually encourage the client to say NO. Trust me, I have not taken leave of my senses, just look out for the course over the next few months and all will be revealed.) However, the problem is that if they are the only strings on your sales bow then you will be entering into problematic waters. Here are just 5 of the endless list of the issues that you could come up against when you ignore the sales process and just concentrate on the close.

1. Pushy sales techniques
2. Clients falling out of bed
3. Major burn rate
4. Low Loading
5. Complaints – Serious Complaints

I am only going to talk about the first point on the above list because all of these and a lot more points are discussed in great detail in my Telesales Tales Training course.

Pushy Sales Techniques
If you ignore the sales process you cannot fail to upset someone somewhere along the sales line. Believe me; I upset a lot of people in my early days of selling by not listening to what the client was saying. My point is that on virtually every sales call that you make, you will trip up and potentially ruin your chances of closing the deal if the only thing on your mind is getting to the close. One problem I used to experience was that I was so gung ho to close a deal that I would literally ignore the fact that I could hear in the client’s voice that they did not want to go ahead with the deal. But because I kept coming back with close after close I pushed them so hard that they either said yes or hung up on me.

In those days I thought that I was the winner in both cases. If they said yes, I punched the air and marked another sale on the sales board. If they hung up on me, then I convinced myself that it was their loss and I moved onto the next client. My philosophy in those days was simple; ‘This is a contact sport, the more I contact, the more sales I make.’ And that was how I lived my first year in sales. I lived to close the deal, and that was my problem; I only thought about the close. I called as many people as I could day in and day out and I went for the close 5,6,7,8,9 or even 10 times in every sales conversation. The clients either buckled or hung up. Now, that to me is not ethical, sensible or an advisable way to sell. In fact it’s not selling, it’s almost bullying and that is not the way to be a great success in the sales arena.

The title of this article is ‘Closing the deal Part 1,’ and the first thing that you must understand if you are going to be good at closing deals then you must look at the whole picture or process. Sales is like a jigsaw puzzle. There are many pieces that make up the end result and it is not about just one thing. So the first thing that you have to get into your head is that there is a process to follow.

I will refer to the sales process in virtually everything that I Write about concerning sales because it is the backbone of the skill.

I have adapted my own process from all of the different ones that I have picked up alone the way and it is called the O.R.D.E.R. Process and I will talk about that in another article. The first sales process that was ever explained to me was back in 1990 and it was delivered and wrapped in the age old acronym A.I.D.A. which stands for:

Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

And for anyone starting out in sales you cannot go wrong if you follow this simple process. There have been books written on this process, but if I had to summarise A.I.D.A. in one paragraph I would do it like this.

You have to get the clients attention before you can get into your presentation. Once you’ve got their attention, you then need to get them interested by fact finding and dropping nuggets of seduction. Now, once there’s an interest in what you have to say, you then need to turn that interest into desire by using features and benefits and moulding your product around the client’s needs. Once that’s been done successfully you then need to take action; i.e. close the deal.

The whole point of this article is to point out that the actual close its self is the last thing that you do in the sales process. However, right from the moment that you utter your first word to your potential client you have begun the closing process. You are closing right from the start and never forget this. If you adopt the attitude of actually wanting to help your client get to the close, you will find that sales will become more rewarding for both you and your potential clients.

If you genuinely want to help your client buy your product you’ll find that you will listen more, understand more, interrupt less, and by and large make the entire sales process more enjoyable for both parties. And, if you get to the point in the sales where the client isn’t going to actually buy from you on this occasion, the call can be ended on an upbeat note, and you have more chance of returning to them at a later date and re-closing the deal.

In summary, you are going to have to look at the big picture in order to get to a successful close. Genuinely try and assist your client in getting the best deal from you. Ask as many questions as possible in order to ascertain exactly what your client wants, but also what his problems are. Look out for Julian Blee’s Art of Closing the Deal parts 2,3 and 4.  

About the Author

Julesblee@gmail.com

The day you hoped would never come | Julian/Sarah (OTH/Chuck)

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