How to Close Deals Like a Pro?

Closing is the natural outcome of a sales process. A well-conducted sales conversation results in a closed deal sometimes without any extra push from the salesperson. It often happens that the prospect himself closes the deal. After you send the proposal the prospect normally accepts the terms and moves further. If not, then you circle back to the objection handling phase and try to justify terms in the proposal or initiate a new one. That said sometimes the prospect doesn't initiate the close and it is up to you to get them there. Here are some ways you can do that:

“79% of all marketing leads are never converted to sales.” - SalesForce

Interested in sales and marketing? Catch our complete guide to sales filled with tips, hacks and walkthroughs designed especially for professionals in B2B business.

Tips to Close Leads Faster:

1. Confirm:

The confirm close refers to a prior confirmation in the middle of the sales process while addressing an objection. A sales rep may assert the if a particular objection is addressed then the prospect should close the deal. It could go something like:

• If I lower the price by this much shall we close the deal?
• So is this the only objection and then can we close?
• I hope if I we get past this issue there isn’t any other reason inhibiting purchase?

Read More: 8 Ways to Nurture B2B Leads

2. Break barrier to Purchase:

A prospect may be reluctant to close due to lack of trust on the product or your capacity to offer a service. This can be solved by offering a demo or trial in case of a product business. In case of service business, you can skip an advance payment to allow people to test your skills first. By using these techniques you can gain the trust of prospects and close deals faster. This technique is especially helpful in case of startups as they don’t have a strong clientele to prove their skills.

Read More: 5 use cases of Augmented Reality in marketing

3. Add time limit:

Adding a time limit to sales creates pressure on the buyer to make fast decisions. The time limit can be added using limited period discounts, offers or freebies. Service-based companies can also say that they won’t be able to allocate resource to project after a specific date because of other priorities. While adding time limit is a good idea don’t set an unjustifiable timeline or you may lose the deal. If the prospect finalizes the purchase decision after the given timeline then they may go to the competitor and avoid you altogether.

Read More: How can we predict future sales from present purchases?

When to Close?

Closing is a critical step in the sales process hence it should be timed properly. If you start pushing too early then you may lose the deal and if you don’t push at all then the conversation may extend too long – again you’ll lose the deal. An ideal situation to close is when you have addressed objections and have confirmed that there aren’t any issues still yet to be resolved. On the final objection, you may initiate a close. The focus should be on resolving objections and expecting close in return and not directly on closing the deal. If the prospect says that there aren’t any objections left then you can simply assert - Should I consider this closed?

Once you close, the work of a salesperson ends and the responsibility shifts to product and customer service department. In case of entrepreneurial selling your job extends a bit further to ensure delivery and customer satisfaction. The next chapter is about retaining customers and getting maximum profitability.

Get your free copy of the Sales 101: The Ultimate Guide to Sales eBook.