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.

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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 to 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. You can reach me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.

Business sales requires that a sales professional builds and cultivates relationships.  That position plays the role of relationship manager. All other relationships pivot on the relationship that the sales professional generates.  For those who have sold for years, you know all of this.  Much of this post is for our younger sales professionals.

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As relationship manager, it is obvious that each relationship will be different, and will vary in depth.  That is the way relationships work in business and in personal life.  We all believe that we evaluate our relationships carefully, yet that evaluation comes with our own judgmental biases and perspectives.

The comfort of a relationship can lead us to speak and act in ways that are too casual.  I am speaking of the usage of slang and colloquial terms and phrases in your business relationships, as well as on the job in your own workplace.

Your Customer

If you are a Black sales professional, it is most likely that your customer and you coworkers come from a totally different background than you.  Life experiences build perceptions (Remember the 3Ps, Perceptions, Preference,  Prejudice and Your Customer – Black Sales Journal 12/27) which one carries until they are ready to give them up.  The danger of slang in a business relationship is that you do know when a word or phrase validates a perception that a buyer might have.

This does not mean that you cannot say all slang, yet slang that is culturally significant when you are still in the relationship building stage could be unacceptable.  I will admit to my guilt in using culturally biased slang with some customers.  Usually it was long, well developed relationships where I exercised that ‘privilege’.  The length of some of those relationships was decades, and I was well familiar with their views, and the customer with mine.  I was lucky, and still probably should have been a little more antiseptic.

Is This a Big Issue?

I don’t think this is a big issue, yet for some of our emerging talent, it should be heard.  Forming relationships is hard work. You need consistency and some personal protocol.

We all have a way of feeling comfort.  It can be a review of your relationship with a customer, or having the strength of a relationship confirmed by a new large order.  If you are wrong in your level of comfort you might seem crass, or you might spark something that chips away at a relationship.

Culturally biased slang includes language that in the Black community would not necessarily be offensive, yet we are not often selling to the Black community.  Even when we are, we want to have a solid idea of who our customer is, and what our boundaries are.  I suggest that it is easier to be in a business mode, and not take the risks unless you are certain of your customer and your relationship.

Your Work Environment

The work environment is a territory that you will know better than your customer.  Even in this territory, you should recognize the limitations that you should impose on yourself.  The workplace should always be considered “foreign” territory.  A familiar place for doing what you do to earn money, and make a career, yet a place that quite often has a set of rules that you have become comfortable with, even if your coworkers are barely comfortable with you.

None of this is bad at all.  Being at work is earning a living.  I had the fortune of working at a place that accepted my cultural differences and allowed me to grow.  All places don’t offer that haven, so your judgment is important here.

I was not the first Black sales professional that worked there, yet I was their first Black sales manager.  By the time I worked in that role, there were things that I said that I wish I could have taken back.  I learned on the job, and learned the hard way.  We all will not work for a solid and forgiving organization.

If you follow the same rules that you should use with customers at your job, you will never lose.  It will be easy to remember, and you will not turn anyone off.  Remember, taking back things you have uttered is like trying to “put toothpaste back in the tube.”

A Simple Example

Many years ago I was on a sales call with a sales professional who the customer told some difficult news, to which he uttered “That Sucks!” Think about that comment, and apply it to business relationships 12 years ago when it was even more sensitized.  The response from the customer was a face that I interpreted as being taken aback.

Now, quite frankly, there were many words that could have been used there, yet the one that came to mind did not sit well with the buyer, who was an older female.  When we left the call and were in the parking lot, I coached that this was not an appropriate comment.  I believe it was for laughs to a degree as there were several people in the room, yet that only means that there could have been several people offended (I don’t believe there were, yet our buyer appeared to be).

I believe that the sales rep took it to heart and appeared very professional in other calls.  I also believe that he apologized to the buyer who quickly stated that it “was fine.”  Fact is that it should not have been done.

How About Profanity?

I once had a manager who could use profanity, and no one ever seemed bothered by it.  Now, I don’t know if they were, as I was not polling, yet there were never any repercussions.  He was well accepted, and had a way about how he did it that desensitized.  I never felt I would have been that blessed.

The fact is that Black professionals should be careful about using profanity for more reasons than I could list in this journal.  It is easier to keep it clean, and be expressive and emphatic.  I believe there is no place for it in our day-to-day public image with the customer or employer.

Remember to always be the consummate professional.

We welcome your comments. Reach me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.