The 17 Greatest Sales Closes of All Time, Part 9: The Final Installment
The close is always the toughest part of the sale. The goal of this series has been to present you with enough options that you'll be able to close any sale, even one with the toughest customer. Here, in Part 9, I'll present great closes # 17 and, in the great sales spirit of giving you more than I promised, a bonus close, #18.
Great Sales Close #17: The “No Quote for You” Close
Are you leaving your quotes with homeowners, just like everyone else? Well, here’s something you can do to increase your sales closing ratio tremendously: don't leave a quote.
Selling is full of surprises, but so are people. So it’s no surprise this works, since it deals with what is “different” about you, your presentation, your proposal, and now your “non quote.”
Here’s how it works: First, don’t take out an actual proposal until you have a solid agreement to consummate the deal. Use what I call a “chicken scratch” page, where you’ll both go over all your figures. Then perform your Ben Franklin Close (from Part 3 of this series) on the back of your $100 cash guarantee form.
Sometimes you can’t close the deal right then due to more quotes coming, or the dreaded “one legger” (one spouse of a husband/wife team). In these cases, just transfer your prices over to the back of your $100 guarantee form.
Now, when the homeowners get other quotes, they’ll stack them all together. The companies run together, the equipment runs together, the faces, systems, and warranties become blah, blah, and blah. So what do customers do? What do you think is the singular method they choose? (I’ll wait while you answer.)
Yes, it’s price. It took me a while to figure this close out until I thought about what was happening after I left the house and the other quotes came in. I wanted to be different. This does it.
What happens is that in the line up of all the proposals they’ll be getting, they can’t help but see your “$100 Cash Guarantee” form with all the benefits you’ve listed on the back that clearly state your superiority. Again, this keeps them from only looking at price, which is, sadly, how most quotes are evaluated after you leave the house.
This method will force them not to just flip from one small typed proposal to another seeking out the lowest number. They’ll be forced to see large bullet points with easy to read benefits, along with the price, and your guarantee — which is your ace.
Anything you can do to be separated from your competition is a good thing. Even with a higher price, people see that you have benefits the others don’t.
For the ones I don’t close when I’m there, I like this method of not leaving a quote like everyone else. The “non quote” has sold many jobs for me. Let it work for you too!
Great Sales Close #18: The End of the Trail Close
This wonderful little close will give you hours of enjoyment, prevent countless headaches, and allow you to make even more money by focusing on higher value prospects.
It’s inevitable that we all will run into the prospect who is looking and looking with little intention of actually doing anything. They’re the ones who want all the benefits re-explained every week because they just haven't been able to make a decision yet.
There simply reaches a point when enough of your time has been wasted, and you must tell the prospect that it’s time to move on. “Somehow I’ve been unable to express the benefits to you fully enough to help you reach a decision. I’ve enjoyed speaking with you and getting to know you, but I feel in all fairness that I must suggest another company for you.”
Be nice about it, but also be firm. Explain the reasons you’re severing the relationship, but also explain why you spent so much time with them up until this point.
You’ll either gain a customer no one else has the guts to handle properly, or you’ll lose a monkey off of your back who has been zapping your strength and patience from the minute you set foot in the doorway.
With the End of the Trail Close, only you will be able to decide when it’s time to say “Happy Trails.” One word of warning, however: if this happens more than 5% of the time, then you need more practice on the other closes (or some new prospects).
And, In Closing . . .
You’ve now completed all the top HVAC closes. It gives me tremendous pleasure to have assembled these closes for you, because I know that with each close, you open other things.
Remember, getting the sale is really not the close of anything. It is the beginning of a relationship with a customer. You open more sales and referrals as a result. And you open yourself to a more fruitful career.
The short-sighted salesperson sees the sales process as ending in a close. The career-oriented sales professional sees the close as a natural by-product of effective selling — that leads to many more just like it.
So, do not “focus” merely on closing. Selling is a process, and a cycle of self-perpetuation.
It has been my pleasure to help you close the sale, and open more doors. Please do the same for others.