It is said, “If you don’t ask for the business, you won’t get the business.” Every one of you has heard that comment stated in one way or another, and probably from your sales manager.

Fact is that in the world of professional sales you probably need some skill in closing technique, yet I am of the belief that skill might be a little overemphasized.   Those who sell features and benefits normally initiated the conversations with their customers with an in-depth conversation about their needs.  If this conversation is conducted correctly, significant progress is made toward your close based on this conversation.  It is important to realize that, if you have a solid relationship (see Black Sales Journal 7/11/2011 Customer Relationships Revisited) your need to manipulate and maneuver someone into a ‘hard’ close is not as important as it is if you are selling with no relationship.  They will give you all of the signals in the world because they trust you and believe that they can be open with you.

The close can be a really simple part of the sales process. Many make it one of the most complicated depending on their view of the activity. Many organizations require their sales professionals to undergo much training about the close and close techniques. Realistically a close should be very natural. Basically a successful close is the natural result of probing, answering, supporting, and problem solving. The natural close is what happens when the objections have disappeared and the comfort levels are high.  That comfort is with you, your product, and your company.

It Begins With You – Know Your Relationship Level

Are you a trusted advisor, counselor, or business friend? If you are, you have developed a relationship along the way that will allow you to logically close without sounding like you are “Willy Loman” (Death of a Salesman). In this type of relationship you have done the ‘heavy lifting’ upfront and secured the opportunity to guide someone through the sales process with the close being much like a ‘soft’ landing. It is obviously the best way, as someone trusts you to help him or her make a good decision.

If you are not there, you may have more work to do with the buyer to develop their degree of trust.  That is not bad either. But attempts to constantly maneuver someone into the corner that you are calling a close could eventually backfire if your relationship is lacking. Asking the little questions to get the prospect used to saying “yes” is an akin to basic manipulation in the eyes of buyer. Let’s not insult the buyer’s intelligence.  Do you think they don’t know this is happening?  If you are adept at it, you might ‘tick’ them off even more. Know that the nature of the relationship governs your ability to move to the ‘soft’ landing that is a successful close.

If you read this journal you recognize my suggestion to ‘master the relationship’.  If you can’t develop a strong relationship before the time is necessary to close, I would definitely suggest being careful about a high-pressure close.  The objective is to be seen by the buyer you as a potential trusted confident and advisor, a professional who can provide value and solutions for their organization.

You never want them to see you as someone targeting them for a ‘hard sell’.  If they do, your calls will cease to be returned, and you will hear less and less from the buyer if they do not give you the ‘all out’ boot.

The Logical Conclusion

Remember; view the close as a logical conclusion to a sales process.  This conclusion may, or may not, be successful, but it will disclose the buyers sentiments if done correctly.  If it is done prematurely, it will uncover objections that you may not know about, and at that point you will have an opportunity to continue to probe and solve. There is sound logic to this approach—if you cannot get sound feedback from the buyer, move to close then the objections will be stated and can be addressed.

Once again the relationship is key.  I do recognize that there are many types of products, sales cycles, and situations that do not give you an opportunity to develop the ideal relationship.  In those cases, you might be building the relationship over several sales cycles.  If you are lucky success will be early, but if not, you will naturally modify your close techniques when the relationship is strong.

Master the relationship.

We welcome your comments.

Success can sometime be vexing if you are a sales professional. As success and increased income for many sales professionals increases so do the rivals and detractors in the workplace.  Yes, the very things that we all wish for can turn into a terrible wedge and fuel attitudes from slight jealousy to flat out envy.  When this happens, the competition becomes less than productive, and relationships strained.

You are making appointments, keeping them and closing deals.  You string together a series of ‘wins’ that is admirable.  It is all going right.  You receive notoriety for your new accounts and your success is getting you management attention as well as a ‘swelling’ income.

Because it is time, and the money is there, you buy a new foreign luxury sedan, and then the barbs begin.  Your income starts to show your success as you buy some new clothes and join an exclusive club.  “Making it rain” is getting you notoriety along with the accompanying benefits of being the number one sales professional in the unit.

Your fellow sales professionals, and others become critical of you for a variety of reasons.  It is even rumored that your manager, who is of the opposite sex, is interested in you.  You are accused of ‘stealing’ prospects, and you become an island.

It Happens In Different Degrees

It does happen, to different degrees.  I am not suggesting that you suspect it, as much as I am saying that sensitivities abound.

Sales units are not teams, whether they are called by that term or not.  The other individuals in your unit can range from becoming slightly perturbed to something bordering on resentment and hate when you generate success and they are not having the success that they want. Having these types of ‘enemies’ happens as sales professionals, and others sense a disparity in the resources that are doled out, or remaining.  Resources could be something as simple as face-time with the boss down to territories, prospect leads, and a variety of other benefits.

The ‘top dog’ becomes a target for jealousy, innuendo, and sniping.  This is a fact of life.  I will make a few suggestions that will help deal with this.

The Golden Rule

What I am going to say may not be golden, but if you treat it as such, your results will certainly be worth more.  Work on a simple set of principals at all times, not when you find the elusive success.  You will find that they should be practices as opposed to something that you do when you do find it:

• Practice being discreet – no one needs to know your income, or even how much you made on the last sale.
• Be humble – at work, recognize that being humble is a sign that you recognize you did not do it alone.
• Give credit and recognition to others – be honest and open about the impact of others in your success.  If you did it all alone, you don’t have to broadcast it, they will already know.
• Help others – Remember the objective of mentoring, and if you cannot be a mentor, offer assistance where needed.
• Continue the routine – If you are doing all of the above and finding success, continue the routine, and ignore the criticism.  If you are true to the above and doing your best, you don’t need to give anyone the power to deter you.

No one needs to see you dance on top of your desk when they are not having any results.  You can be happy and respectful of others in difficult times without sacrificing your success and gain.

We all have worked with sales professionals who whooped and hollered, and bragged and boasted when they scored a sale.  They even handed out cigars as if they had a new offspring after a new sale.  What they really did was to mock the fact that success can be fleeting.  Those around these misguided individuals are left to draw an interpretation that they are boorish, or that they had never had success before.  To coin a football quote “…act like you have been in the end-zone before.”

There is no reason to not celebrate, just do it discreetly.  You can celebrate with your manager, or with your family or both, as all are beneficiaries.

One Last Word

You may not care about these ‘enemies’, yet you should.  One could end up your manager, or your manager’s manager one day.  This could be important stuff.

A Chinese military strategist, Sun-Tzu (Circa 400BC) said “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” (You probably thought it was Michael Carlene from the Godfather 2 fame who came up with it).  I say this only to indicate that you should engage everyone, even those that feel you have aggrieved him or her.  There are lessons to be learned here.  You can learn from everyone, and you can help everyone as well.  Offering assistance at your specialty (sales) even though it is not common is disarming.

Master the relationship!

Your comments are appreciated.