The Close

The Close

Dennis Eckersley was a famous
baseball closer. Here he is
receiving his Hall of Fame
invite.

There are many different ways to accomplish your close, many books written about it. it should be natural, it should be easy and you must earn the right to close

Make sure you look for the buying signs.

Buying Signs

• Asks about product availability 
• Takes mental ownership over product
• Asks for input from another person

Watch your customer body language to detect any unspoken concerns. Successful people are not stumped by questions, they anticipate them and are ready to handle them.

The ability to handle objections is a vital requirement for all successful sales people. Be sure you are ready to handle objections.


Thank you for reading my blog all summer, it's been a pleasure.

-Adam

The Trial Close

The Trial Close

-> Are you ready to buy?

A trial close is a simple question to determine if they are ready to buy.

Because the trial close only takes a few seconds it is often overlooked, however it is very important and top salespeople use it everyday.

Determines if you and your client are on the same page.

It is not asking for the sale. Its about asking your client if they are comfortable and ready to buy.

"How do you feel about..." is the basis of all your questions.

Presenting Value

Presenting Value

-> Showing the Customer the best value based on their needs.

Value is important than price.

Value equals Benefits

People do not buy products or features of those products, they buy the benefits those features will provide to them.

Features Never Sell -> benefits do!

Remember

Price becomes less of an issue when needs are understood, everything is too expensive unless value is attached to it.

picture from:
http://www.cshughes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Price-vs-Value.png

Probing for Needs

Probing For Needs

-> together with the customer, discover their needs!

There are many different reasons why people buy what they buy. The challenge is to find out what their personal motivation is for wanting to buy.
Each person is driven by their own needs and wants, as well as their specific personality traits and personal situation.

It's about needs based selling!

What kind of phone do you currently have?

What can I do for you today?

What would you like to be able to do?

The idea is to ask specific open-ended questions to figure out their needs! 

Next week is Part 3 Presenting Value

Meeting & Greeting

Meeting and Greeting Part 1

-> connect with customer quickly and build trust

I think that this is the most important part of any sale. The cliché "you only get one chance to make a first impression" is a cliché because it's true, it's time tested.

Resistance - People will often initially be resistant. Often their first words are, "I'm just looking." Even before you can say "Hello".

This is because people don't want to be pressured!

Many people have had a negative experience with a salesperson as a result many people do not like salespeople.

That's why this part is so important. Make sure you look professional and ask OPEN ended questions. Get people talking and excited about buying. Then on to Part 2 Probing for Needs

picture from
http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/u661/PT_Handshake%20of%20Man%20with%20Arm%20Extended.jpg

Intro!

Hey guys! 
   
   Welcome to The Trail Close. This blog is going to run for the entire summer as a school project. My name is Adam Greer, I've been working in retail selling all kings of things since I was about 13 and I was selling hotdogs at the African Lion Safari. Lately I've been working in some more profession environments and I figure, I will attempt to pass along some of the knowledge, I wish I had known earlier. I am going to go over some sales skills weekly and some practical advice that will help you not only at work but socially as well.

   Next week I am going to start off a 5 part series about the basic sales process, it will look like this:
1. Meeting and Greeting 
2. Probing for Needs 
3. Presenting Value 
4. TRIAL CLOSE! 
5. The Close 


 If you have a specific topic you want to see covered, let me know. I hope everyone has a great summer and I look forward to blogging all summer 

Adam!