You Can Laugh At Closing Fears, Says The Sales Coach

You’ve invested a great deal of time and energy first developing prospects then meeting for an appointment. At the end of the appointment do you stumble when it comes time to ask for the business? You’re not alone. In fact, a full 63% of all appointments end without the salesperson asking for the business.

Fear is a key obstacle preventing you from moving forward. Both your fear of being rejected and the prospects fear of making a mistake. You can remove both. If you’ll stop using “telling” to sell and start working with the prospect it’s much easier for you to make your point and, at the same time, it’s much easier for the prospect to trust you and worry less about making a mistake.

What you’re really doing when you fail to close the sale is cheating. You’re cheating yourself out of income, and you’re cheating your prospect out of getting what they need. Rather than cheating you can help yourself by helping them. When you work with the prospect instead of “selling” them you make it a whole lot easier for the prospect to “sell themselves” on getting what they want.

Closing is such a hurdle because you haven’t positioned yourself to win the race. Positioning starts before you ever make the first connection. Imagine, if you will, that you’re in a situation where you need an ace trial attorney, without one you’re highly likely to face a life prison sentence. You are completely innocent a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Your phone rings on the other end is an attorney asking to meet for an appointment. When you ask the attorney on the call how they happened to hear about your case the attorney informs you they aren’t aware of your situation, however, no matter the problem they can handle it. You’re in a pickle with nowhere to turn so you agree to meet. Your situation is desperate you really need an immediate solution, and you want an immediate solution now. When you arrive at the appointment you find a dinky little office. The attorney appears to work alone doesn’t even have a receptionist. You’re shocked the attorney doesn’t even look old enough to hold a license. The attorney presents you with his/her case for what he/she can do, why you should choose him/her, and presses hard for your business. Would you agree to give it to him/her? Not likely.

In your mind at least, the position this attorney holds doesn’t match what you’re looking for and need. Contrast that scenario with this one. You receive a personal letter from an attorney confirming the attorney’s awareness of your situation citing specific cases the attorney has resolved to the clients favor. The letter concludes with the attorney inviting you to call his/her receptionist to obtain a trial strategy guideline useful to you whether you select this firm or any other. Wouldn’t you immediately go to the phone letter still in hand and call that number? Positioning helps you to increase sales by removing many of the likely obstacles before the first connection.

In closing, pun intended, the last element preventing you from getting what you want is the way you package what you do. Your prospect isn’t an expert in relation to the solutions you provide, if they were they wouldn’t need you. The more you can simplify what you do and how it produces the desired results, the easier it is for the prospect to understand it, and the more likely your prospects are to make a “yes” decision. Packaging and positioning go hand in hand, partners working together to erase your closing struggles so you walk away with a sale and your prospect walks away feeling excited about what they’re getting.