Closing The Sale Technique

Nothing is more frustrating than giving a solid presentation to the decision maker(s), handling their objections, creating value and excitement, and smelling the deal ready to close only to have the prospect tell you that after much pondering and thought, they need to think about it just a little bit more. You begin to press, push and if you are not careful turn your prospect off all together and lose the sale, but what are you to do? You have done all you can. Your product/service makes sense, is affordable, offers the features and benefits they were seeking and now you ask yourself…”where did I go wrong?” Why do they STILL need to think about it? Well, I’ll tell you why.

Now, nothing against the timeshare industry, there are some good companies, with good people, selling good product making a great living but lets be honest for a second, it is not the most pleasant experience in the world when listening to their presentation. You know the drill. Get a free gift if you will take the tour of the property, listen to their pitch and make a decision THAT day! That’s right, make a decision on a product that could set you back anywhere from $5,000-$50,000. And you have 15 minutes to think it over.

Don’t get me wrong, these sales people have all of their bases covered BEFORE you sit down. They are prepared for any and ALL objections thrown at them during this presentation and they are the masters of creating value and excitement during the time you are there. Here is how they ensure that you have all the information you need to make a decision TODAY!

* Spouse must be present (spousal concern covered)
* Must have a major credit card (for down payment concern)
* Will finance any amount to fit any budget by adding or subtracting weeks. (Eliminates the “Cannot afford it” statement)
* Have walked you through a replica of “your” room. (creates value and excitement)
* Have other couples in the room, and yell out when someone buys (creates excitement and credibility).

So what happens? You get beat up in the presentation and they push and push and push until finally they give up, they accept your “no” and you leave (If you didn’t buy that is, and I am assuming you didn’t). How do you feel AFTER this ordeal? Beat up? Exhausted? How about relieved! You are relieved because the presentation is over and you are “off the hook”. No more giving objections and telling them why you are not interested or listening to their managers give concessions, you are out of there and the stress level is gone, the guard is down and you can now relax.

Well, that is what you need to do here. Let your prospect off the hook, temporarily, than ask again. Get them to drop their protective guard and open up to you, and the only way to do this is to NOT be in a selling mode. I am not saying your presentation is high pressure, they are simply holding back saying “yes” because they have one to two small items they may be unclear on. Price, terms, color, delivery, etc., and for whatever reason they are holding it back from you. By letting them off the hook, the pressure of the sale is off and they are more at ease, their guard has dropped. I cannot tell you how many sales I have closed by letting my prospect off the hook, and than digging a little deeper for the real objection. Here is a typical scenario of how this powerful closing technique would work.

“Well Mr. Prospect, I can appreciate the fact you need think it over so lets do this, lets say we get together again (name a date and time you both agree on) and we wrap it up at that time fair enough?”

This relaxes them, puts them at ease and it also sets a solid date and time for you to meet again should you still leave empty handed. After they agree, move to the next phrase of the close.

“Mr. Prospect, before I leave here today, do you think you could help me out, assist me here a little”?

Of course they will respond with a resounding yes and allows you to continue.

“When we meet here next week, I want to make sure this deal is air tight and you are satisfied with the price and terms don’t you agree”?

They will.

“Well, between you and I, what was the one thing that held you back here today, I really am curious. It would be great if you could share it with me so that I can make sure we clear it up before our next meeting, wouldn’t you agree?

Stand perfectly still, smiling and wait for their answer. I cannot tell you how many clients would come back with their REAL objection, the REAL reason that was holding them back for buying that day. In essence, it gives you a SECOND chance to close them and handle the objection AGAIN, without seeming too pushy or too assertive, and one more chance to leave with a signed deal.

Think about it for a moment if you will. You are on your way out the door and the sales presentation has ended. What hesitation will they have NOW in telling you what the real reason was? The selling environment is gone, the stress level is nil and all you are looking for is a little help, not a commitment? You will be very, very surprised how many deals you will end up closing right than and THERE that you thought were lost! This close will be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to you for the remainder of your career, just wait and see.

Silence Is NOT Golden

All throughout our sales career we have been told that “silence is golden”. That “he who speaks next, loses”. Wrong! Silence is NOT GOLDEN, and if you stay silent too long after the closing question the prospect will simply fill it with a knee jerk reactionary response such as “I need to think about” or something along those lines and you are dead in the water. I call it a knee jerk reactionary response because growing up we are conditioned to react to certain things with certain, imbedded responses, and in sales prospects will revert back to the ones we hate just out of comfort and ease in ending the sales pressure. You need to keep them away from these responses and to keep them talking, if only to continue to find the one to two last remaining items holding up the sale.



There is no question that when you ask for the sale you need to give them time to ponder, to allow them to go over the facts and the value of the deal you have laid out, however, too long a time frame can make it uncomfortable for both you. My next technique is on dealing with silence as it relates to price. The situation that will arise when you ask for the sale and they are STILL pondering the price or at the moment you show them the price and they fall silent. Obviously, 95% of the time they are looking at your price with a wide range of thoughts going through their head, thoughts they will be hesitant in sharing with you, such as;


“Can I really afford this?”
“Will this fit in my budget?”
“This wasn’t what I was expecting?”
“They need to come down on this before I will even consider it?”


These are just a tip of the iceberg that are running wildly through their minds as they look at your price silent, pondering, etc. The novice sales person in this situation suddenly begins to have thoughts of their own such as ;

“What are they thinking? Am I too high?”
“I was told to stay silent, let them think about for a few minutes, what now?”
“Maybe I could come down a little bit on price”.


These confused thoughts from the inexperienced salesperson will fester just as the thoughts of the prospect on their concerns about the price, and the silence will continue until someone fills the void. I firmly feel that the silence needs to be filled as soon as the uncomfort level begins to materialize and I utilize this moment to get them talking again, and I do it in such a way that it gets the “price” component out front and center so we can deal with it and close. Let me illustrate:


You: “I see you are really having some thoughts about the cost Susan and I don’t blame you, we get that a lot. You are probably wondering how we can do what we do so inexpensively?”

Prospect: “ No, actually I thought the cost was a bit high.”

You: “Really? Wow, I am surprised to hear you say that, I have to admit I haven’t heard that in quite a while. If you don’t mind my asking what were you expecting to pay?”


(BANG!!!!! You have broken the silence without ending the sale, and NOW you have them engaged again and giving you the vital information you need to close the sale.)

Prospect: “To be honest, I was expecting to pay $10,000, not $11,500. That is a little out of my budget.”


What has she just told you? She said that you have a deal if you can somehow bring it down $1,500. At this point she has given you powerful information with which to work with you and you now have a few options. You can:

A.) Give in and close the deal at $10,000 and eat into your profit and commission (if applicable).

B.) Go back to showing the benefits and value your product has at the $11,500 price and hope she caves in.

C.) (What I STRONGLY recommend) Pull the $1,500 out of the equation and show value for THAT portion of the deal, not the aggregate sum of $11,500. Why? Because she is already content enough to pay $10,000, just cannot see paying an additional $1,500. So what do you do? Create value for the $1,500 and how spending this additional small amount will make a world of difference in performance over your competition. Take the $1,500 and break it down over the life of the product or service, letting her see that over the long haul the benefits far outweigh the additional cost.

Learn MORE at www.markmcclure.net

How Suction Ad's Create HUGE Revenues

How Suction Ad’s Create HUGE Revenues

A well written marketing piece should always have the effect of a suction, in that it is able to take all of your information and slowly suck in the consumer like a vacuum cleaner, where they are completely unable to turn away from your ad until they have read every bit and piece. You need to capture their attention from the VERY BEGINNING with a header that makes a statement, than create the emotion and logic necessary for them to initiate the call to action needed to close the sale. If you look back my segment on The Letter Approach (www.markmcclure.net), we utilized this strategy as a way to set appointments with major decision makers, to gain enough interest from the prospect in order that we may call them up and have the ability to feed off this emotion and logic enough to set an appointment to meet and close big ticket items.

What we want to do now is utilize this approach in writing ad copy that gives us the ability to draw in the consumer, create the emotion and logic enough to have them chomping at the bit to do a call to action!! The key, the absolute key to the successful selling of your product or service is the creation and of emotion and logic and the transfer of enthusiasm of your product onto the prospect effectively. I am not going to go into it in depth here, I have done a complete segment in the Identifying Needs chapter on emotion and logic, simply go back to this area to get a thorough idea on what I mean. Our objective here is how to harness the two effectively with good (make that GREAT) ad copy in order that they will buy, buy, buy.


Creating a “Suction Ad” For Maximum Effect

Okay, lets dive right on what it takes to write killer, creative marketing pieces and ad copy that not only gets you noticed, but gets you results. Fluffy, graphically pleasing, photo heavy marketing pieces look good and might make the consumer go WOW for a brief moment, than off to the trash can it goes. As I stated above, pieces with heavy photography is fine for fast food and restaurant promotions and a very small handful of other industries which I will touch on, but for 95% of everything else it gains you nothing, and blows a ton of your marketing budget. Your goal is to generate enough interest and excitement to READ your ad and than enough trust and logic (coupled with excitement) to make the next step and become your customer!

(For more on how to write killer ad copy from one of the world's most elite marketing experts, go to www.markmcclure.net)

Closing Deals with The Referral Lunch Technique

Everyday I hear people tell me that the best way to produce business is through referrals and I wholeheartedly agree. However, talk is cheap and the people that tell me this have no idea how to “work” a referral. Most will simply pick up the phone every now and than when times are tough or business is slow and ask past clients for a referral, or see where they are in terms of purchasing again. This is what I call a crap shoot approach and at best, may land you a new client every now and than, but in no way will make a significant impact on your income and client base. You see, you need to think outside the box and GIVE something in return for referrals. Too many people just ask, ask, ask with no incentive on the back end for the people that give them. If you want to triple your business and client base immediate for pennies on the dollar, simply employ what I call the “Referral Lunch”.

The process is rather simple and the rewards astronomical. You simply pick up the phone of a past client who you feel is in the market again for your product or service, and offer to take him to lunch and go over any new developments you want to show him. The catch is that he needs to bring 2 friends with him who may have an interest as well. Individuals that are qualified and in the market for what you have to offer. What you accomplish here is a meeting with 3-4 qualified prospects who will give you their undivided attention, and allow you to present in less formal atmosphere while at the same time allowing you to create emotion in person!


You see, EMOTION and RAPPORT sell, these are the two key ingredients to ANY sale and by presenting to the referrals in person rather than over the phone, you accomplish both…..quickly. Too many people simply ask for the referral than pick up the phone and call. What is this? How impersonal? How are you able to create any emotion or any rapport by a simple phone call? In most cases you can’t and the top producers understand this that is why they are top producers!

So next time you want to call a past client and ask for a referral DO IT, but do it right! Ask them to lunch so you can update them on your new product or service and get them to bring along two qualified referrals. Your cost in this is a lunch for four, with a return on investment that could pay dividends forever.

I know a financial planner who works to fill all 5 days a week with this type of referral plan and has the immense six figure income to show for it. Every morning he sets aside 25-30 minutes calling clients and setting as many lunches as he can for the next 10 business days. Once those are booked he books out 10 more days, with a goal of having a captive lunch audience every day of the week. He told me that his lunch tab is about $45-50 a pop or about $250 a week, but he closes a minimum 3 new deals a week generating himself a commission base of an extra $4,500!!!!! That’s $4,500 folks just for eating lunch and keeping his clients a breast on his new products and services. This is how you work referrals. This is how you utilize your existing client base!!

Immigrants And MILLIONAIRES

Here is a little known fact I learned while speaking overseas recently. A fact that a CEO from a European Bank conveyed to me and it really hit home. He told me that "in the United States, an immigrant coming to your country is 4X more likely to become a millionaire than those that were raised in it." And you know what? He is right. We have the "richest poor" in the world because those that are raised in this country have a sense of entitlement and never strive to reach maximum potential. Those that come here see the DREAM and KNOW they can realize it with massive hard work. So they attack and obtain it. The entitled ones? Wait for it to fall on their lap and the end up working for the millionaire.

Food for thought.

Back From Asia...The Expansion Continues

My recent Asian Tour turned out bigger and better than I had hoped. In addition to selling out another one of my events in Bangkok at The Landmark Hotel (courtesy of Amin Rais and his company AIM Inlines), I also spoke at His Majesty The Kings Conference on A Sufficient Economy at The Rembrandt Hotel, promoted by Asean Affairs Magazine. Made some new friends and just as importantly, some key contacts (I will have a major announcement on a JV in the coming weeks) and even more importantly, paved the way to bring The Ruthless Entrepreneur Show to Asia. This is not something that MIGHT happen....it is something that IS going to happen! More on that later as well.


SOCIAL MEDIA FEEDBACK

While the trip provided me with some incredible new business and joint ventures deals and in the process allowed me to meet some exciting entrepreneurs and investors, it also opened my eyes to how "players" on the international stage are currently conducting business in today's environment. Why do I say that? Well, because over the past 2 years we have seen this craze with Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc., here in the U.S. and everyone and their mother are trying to become experts on it. But for all the wrong reasons!!! Sure, there are entrepreneurs using it as a tool to promote their business but the problem is, is that they are becoming so addicted to these tools that is all they seem to use as a marketing tool. Why? Because they haven't got the resources ($$$) to take themselves to the next level (major media) and stay stuck in this quagmire with 99.5% of their competition. Folks....if you want your CUSTOMERS and PROSPECTS to take your business seriously...YOU need to take your business seriously. And trust me, unless you are gaining exposure in mainstream media (TV, Magazines, Radio, etc.) you will be part of the pack and treated like part of the pack and no different.



(Back to my meetings in Asia this past month) Over the last 30 days while conducting my seminars in Thailand and meeting on various business deals, I had the pleasure of meeting a couple billionaires, media magnates, Hollywood actors, major TV and movie producers, bank CEO's, royalty, government Ambassadors and top entrepreneurs from around the globe. More than 95% of them had no interest in Twitter and Facebook, as they were too busy working on REAL PROJECTS and REAL DEALS and the tools they were using to market their projects and ideas currently were much more effective then Social Media. These were VERY, VERY successful entrepreneurs making big money on a global scale. So when I consulted with a few of them on effective sales and marketing strategies for their business, they were pleasantly surprised that I didn't talk about all that "bullshit social media crap" that has become so pervasive in the U.S. Especially the idiots on YouTube talking into a $10 camera giving advice on how to make money. Ridiculous.

THINK ABOUT IT?

• Would you hire a 400lb slob with love handles as a fitness trainer?


• Would you hire a financial advisor so broke that he drives a 1981 rusted Impala?

Then how you can expect your prospects to hire YOU when all you use is FREE social media vehicles to market your business? How credible is that?

Bottom line folks. Social Media is fun, can serve a purpose in marketing but if that is ALL you are using as your marketing foundation and want to be taken seriously AND make money long term........ Your %*^%^&) screwed! Get off your butt and begin to find ways to get your message on the national and international stage via REAL MARKETING VEHICLES like TV, radio, magazines, etc. You want to be taken seriously and be credible in the eyes of your prospects? Than begin taking your marketing seriously. If not they will continue to look at you as some hack without the resources to "play the game" and in the process let you know this through a non-ringing phone.

Asian Business Show appearance

Was invited to appear on Asia's version of CNBC on October 28th in downtown Bangkok (what a massive and beautiful city!) to discuss branding and marketing. I was on there with one of Thailand's top brand strategist and unfortunately the show's question and answer dialogue between her and the hosts were done in Thai, so I could not really rebut. And the Q&A between myself and the hosts was done in English and Thai, so it made for an interesting interview, but put me at a disadvantage when it came to feeding off her answers if I felt they were wrong.

In any event I stuck with what I believe is the CORE of all marketing and that is that before you develop any ad pieces or marketing campaigns you must FIRST ask yourself this question;

"Why would anyone do business with me" and than from their mold your entire marketing plan around the answer to that question. I told the millions of viewers that if you do that, you will SUCCEED! Period.


Look, promoting a brand is fine but let's be honest; will you prospect remember your logo two weeks later when they see it? Will they be able to remember what it stood for? What your product or service was? NO! So to spend enormous amounts of money and time on promoting your "brand" is an exercise in futility....initially. Get the MESSAGE out FIRST, make sure you can answer the question the prospect will ask themselves before they even consider doing business with you and that is... "What's In It For Me?" THEN you can slowly begin building the brand. But, develop your marketing message first and foremost and you will have laid the foundation for entrepreneurial success.