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If you don’t ask, The answer will always be NO.

Someone once told me that we should never try to close a deal; if you present the product or service properly the prospect will automatically buy.

Years and years of research have been conducted by our organisation. The results clearly demonstrate otherwise. We should always attempt to close a sale with verbal or physical actions. So, let’s review the sales process. Once the customer makes an inquiry, we use all our skills to connect. We start building a rapport with our client and we question the client to find out what criteria will trigger a transaction.

In fact, we should always ask prospects what their buying criteria is. Is it quality, specification, colour, availability, or price range? Once we have gained a clear understanding of the above buying criteria, then we should endeavour to match our product or service offerings to these requirements.

The next great piece of advice we offer sales people from all walks of life is to ask the prospect the following question. If we are able to “tick all of your boxes” ( meet all requirements ) is there any reason why you would not purchase this product or service from us?

This is the true qualifier to ensure that the client is ready to purchase. Some may call it a trial close, we call it a qualifying sequence. If the client tells us that they would not buy from Synergy for Success, although we meet their requirements, we would have to dig deeper. What is the reason that they are not prepared to buy? It could be that the inquiry is for a purchase in the future, maybe it is because they are purely price shopping, or they are just bench-marking their current supplier in the marketplace.

The “tick the boxes” routine will quickly allow you to get a better idea of where the client sits in the buying cycle.

If the client says that they will buy off of you if you meet all of their requirements, then it is time to ask for the purchase. Prospects often need to be “closed” – they are actually waiting for you to attempt to close the deal. Quite often, if you don’t ask for the order they will gladly walk away and engage with another supplier who will invite them to buy.

So, how do you ask for the order? 

If you don’t ask, the answer will always be no. Let’s take a look.

• Would you like to go ahead and tidy up the paperwork?
•  Order a unit from the factory
• Secure a delivery date
• See what colours are available
•  Ask how they will be paying for the goods or service

Take Action

Verbal is always one way of closing a deal, but there is always more than one way. Taking action, shows authority. When your trying to close a deal you can have a few choices.

• Walk toward the counter
• Put the items in a carry bag
• Start to complete an order form
• Start to key the order into a computer/Palm Pilot

We teach new sales people, that if they don’t ask for the order, then they are “working for the opposition”. This statement makes us think twice about not asking for the order on every possible occasion.

What is the worst thing that can happen if you don’t ask for the order?

The prospect can walk away and buy elsewhere? they can object about the price or give you another reason for not being ready to buy. For the latter 2 reasons you then need to be prepared to offer responses to their objections. If you are convincing enough in responding to their objections, then you will surely walk away with an order.

Successful organisations are the ones that ask for the order on each and every occasion. It makes perfect sense, and the prospects are waiting for you to do so.

So, do we ask for the order ? The answer is positively YES!

George Manolis is a speaker and author who delivers public and in-house training programs in sales all around Australia. Contact him at 1300 791 571 or via email: george@sfsi.com.au. You may also view the comprehensive range of sales tools which include training videos for download. Visit www.salesforce.au.com

Many sales people are afraid to ask for the order, this is sad but true.

Many Strategic Selling Courses specifically teach that if you ask the correct qualifying questions then the order will follow. We do not disagree with this, however, we still need to ask for the order.

Before we discuss what are the best closing lines, let’s talk about the pre-amble, or what has to happen before we ask for the order.

Never ask for the order before the following actions / tasks have been identified:

You have identified all the decision makers, and what each persons interest is in the deal. Remember some decision makers are only interested in the technical aspects of your offer, and others are interested in ROI, whilst someone else maybe interested in your companies capabilities.

You have built a rapport with each of these people above, and you have had the opportunity to have a discussion with each person if possible.

A complete needs analysis has been completed of the clients requirements, absolutely every aspect must be explored. Ie previous incumbent, why are they on the market, what do they like about their current supplier, on what basis they will make a decision, etc.

A sales Pitch has been delivered, and in this pitch you have solved the prospects pain.

Once all of the above have been completed, then we need to start the process of closing the deal. Some of the best options for asking for the order are the simplest.

The simplest include :

Would you like to proceed with this ?

If there are no further questions, shall we tidy up the paperwork ?

Shall I allocate this stock number to you ?

Would you like us to program the manufacture of this product into our production line ?

What color shall we secure for you ?

These questions will surely let you know where the client stands, they will show their cards at this stage.

The next part of the process is to handle the objections.

Objections don’t mean a “no”, but maybe, we need more information, this is how you must view this.

So the next part of your training would include, how to handle objections easily and seamlessly. Buyers are impressed with salespeople that know how to handle objections. You will win more deals when this happens.

Learn more about crafting a powerful sales process at Sales Training Program, B2B proven program used by National & Global Corporations on June 12,13 2019 – perfect for any team seeking to level up in sales.

There are many ways of connecting with prospects to identify what opportunities actually exist within their organisations, including email marketing, direct mail, invitations to events and so on. Getting past the gatekeeper can be daunting. Here’s our cold-caller’s guide to manoeuvring the gatekeeper.

This article will discuss the strategy of cold calling – that’s right telemarketing!

As we make over 1 million calls in our own outbound lead generating call centre, we know that telephone canvassing is the most efficient manner of qualifying prospects.

The process we teach our own staff, as well as the strategies we share with sales people from organisations all over the world, is that we essentially call people and talk to them.

Build Rapport

Too many of us use the telephone as a method to “sell”. When we can understand that the prospects don’t like to be sold or told…our approach is use the telephone to build rapport, and then a relationship which leads to trust.

Sure we will be blocked by gatekeepers, which is when you need to make decisions on the spot as to how to handle these situations.

The greatest advice we offer sales people is our powerful 5 Step Process for Marketing by Telephone.=

Step #1

The number one strategy is to call a gatekeeper and ask them if they have a moment to speak. This is called “asking for clearance” and is one of the most important telephone techniques to ensure that we do not appear to be telemarketers – this strategy alone will set you apart from the opposition and give you a head start.

Step #2

The second strategy which we believe is gold is “empowerment” – here is an example:

“I wonder if you can assist me Jane.”

“Can you tell me who in your organisation makes the decision as to which printing company your organisation will use in the future?”

This sounds like a long convoluted way of asking for a decision maker, but this method is proven to work – it is tried and tested over 1 million times a year in our own call centre.

It works because you are asking the gatekeeper for assistance, and people love to help!

You are elevating them by asking them for assistance. (As opposed to “can I speak with the business owner?”)

In some cases, our process does not yield the desired results, but there are always ways around such roadblocks.

The Decision Maker

Once you have a name of a decision maker then it is important use the same two strategies when the call is put through to them… ”Are you free to speak”, and “I wonder if you can assist me, I understand that you are the person that makes the decisions as to which printing company you will use in the future.”

So, that is the seamless process we use with extraordinary results.

Remember the telephone is the most effective method of touching prospects – you get straight to the decision maker without the need for brochures, webmail infrastructure, and other expensive marketing tools.

Would your team benefit from learning more about the 5 Step Process for Marketing by Telephone?

Learn more about crafting a powerful sales process at Sales Training Program, B2B proven program used by National & Global Corporations on August 16-17 – perfect for any team seeking to level up in sales.

Winning organisations are those that regularly manage their Key Performance Indicators (also known as KPIs).

KPIs come in many forms and it is important to monitor these from many areas of your sales based business. As they say “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”.

So what should we measure in our business?

We suggest that you regularly measure, monitor and adjust performance issues related to:

• Monthly sales revenue
• Incoming enquires through walk-ins
• Internet and telephone enquiries
• Number of deals won
• Average order size
• Gross profits
• Lead time to delivery

These are just some of the KPIs which will affect the dynamics of your business. As a manager or business owner, you will then be able to take corrective action to rectify any issues and ensure that you realise a profit each month. Not only should you set KPIs that relate to making profit, you should also set KPIs for your sales staff, each of these KPIs being linked to the overall need to make a profit.

Measuring your monthly sales revenue is crucial, and we also suggest that weekly snapshots are also shared with the team to demonstrate how we are tracking for the month. When we identify lower than normal trends in sales, this is a sure warning bell that we need to check many aspects of the sales operation.

The first real indicator of a potential reduction in sales is a drop in the number of incoming enquiries. This is also an area which we as business managers should become involved – if your marketing isn’t working and your enquiry level diminishes, it’s time to ask questions. Lower than normal enquiry levels can often mean a correlated reduction in sales and gross profit. Keeping your finger on this pulse is crucial.

Measuring to win sales

Measuring the numbers of deals won each month as a ratio of incoming enquiries is also critical. If your “win ratios” diminish then this could mean a number of things have come into play – your competition is smashing you on price, perhaps your sales team is not as enthusiastic about closing deals, perhaps it’s just an objection that your sales team is struggling with, in any case, measuring this KPI is crucial in order for you to get to the next level in sales.

Average order size can also tell you much about what is happening in your business – many factors come into play here – it could be the current product and service offerings are not congruent with a large order value, or it could be as simple as your team not adding value to each sale.

Measuring and benchmarking gross profit is also another valuable KPI to measure. It can give an indication as to what the market is doing to your pricing structure, perhaps your team is discounting too much, or perhaps you have one particular team member that has a pricing phobia? Driving your profits up is a crucial competency of successful business people.

So as you can see, measuring is a simple process, but then acting on trends is the next step to building a more powerful and profitable business – successful companies measure and manage KPIs on a regular basis.

Would your team benefit from learning more about which statistics to measure?

Learn more about crafting a powerful sales process at Sales Training Program, B2B proven program used by National & Global Corporations on August 16-17 – perfect for any team seeking to level up in sales.

Customers and prospects contact your business by phone or call in to make enquiries about your products and services. That’s why it’s so important to know how to answer the phone.

They expect to be acknowledged, greeted and treated like VIPs when they make contact with you.

No matter what size company we work with, our best advice for business owners and sales team members is: “The reason you exist is to be 100% focused when a client or prospects makes contact with you” In fact, nothing else matters when you are engaging with a client or prospect.

Here are some tips to shed some light on how to implement our philosophy:

1. When a customer makes contact, put everything aside and focus on the person making the enquiry. Have a pen and note pad handy and make notes whilst they are talking. Make sure you are not distracted by background noise or other conversations in your office.
2. If the caller has to wait for more than a minute then have someone take a message, and ensure that you call them back with some urgency. If your clients and prospects call into your business and you cannot serve them immediately; the best response is to acknowledge them and tell them you will be with them shortly.
3. Start the conversation by building some rapport – don’t get right into business, schmooze your caller, talk about the weather, or something of interest that happened in the news, whatever the conversation is, ensure it is pleasant and positive. The reason for building rapport is that it makes the client or prospect feel more comfortable with you and is the first step towards building some trust.
4. Take note of their name, write it down, also ask for their contact number, and even their email address – this is appropriate behaviour in many sales conversations. If their name is hard to pronounce ask them to spell it.
5. Use their name at least three times during the conversation – you can keep someone engaged in a conversation when you are using their name and taking interest in them.
6. Take a genuine interest in their enquiry, ask open ended questions. Try and establish their pain – the sales people that establish the clients or prospects pain are the ones that win most of the business. When you establish the clients’ pain, you can then increase your enquiries to wins ratios, but more importantly you can often sell your premium high margin product and can stand a better chance of selling more “duty of care” items. Duty of Care items are what we describe as “add-ons”. It’s the add-on sales that help you gain more turnover and more profit in your business.
7. If the clients call into your business, show them the product first hand, let them touch and feel, (or experience) the product. Don’t just give them a price. Total engagement with a client or prospect means they are getting to know how much you care – this builds even more trust.
8. Explain the benefits of the product – too many sales people talk about the materials that a product is made from rather than explain what the benefits of these materials will mean to the customer. Really when you think about it, it’s all about the client or prospect and what’s in it for them.

At some point you need to ask the client if they would like any more information, and if not, then it is time to ask them for the order. This is a topic of another conversation, but remember the eight tips above will certainly have the client in a better position of trusting you and will give more of a chance of winning the deal.

The next time the phone rings or a customer calls in remember “the reason you exist is to be 100% focused when a client or prospects makes contact with you”.

Would your team benefit from learning more about asking questions that close sales?

Learn more about crafting a powerful sales process at Sales Training Program, B2B proven program used by National & Global Corporations on August 16-17 – perfect for any team seeking to level up in sales.

Many organisations are happy to offer discounts – all the customer needs to do is ask. In other companies, the sales people are so grateful and familiar with customers that on many occasions you don’t even have to ask for a discount – the sales person just volunteers a healthy slice of the profit back to the customer. Let’s do the maths on discounting.

When we offer a discount, we take away the profit directly from our cash register and give it to the customer. Not a healthy way of running a business.

Sales people do not understand mathematics especially when related to profits – if you make 30% profit on products and you continually discount by 10%, then you need to sell 50% more product to make the same amount of profit – staggering and sad facts!

Are Discounts Necessary?

So what happens in your business? Are your sales people authorised to offer discounts? Are you aware of what types of discounts are being offered? Do we have guidelines on how and to whom we offer discounts? Does the team understand why we need to give discounts? Our advice is to ensure that the entire team is working on the same playing field when it comes to offering discounts.

Sometimes offering discounts is necessary – we do understand the realities of modern day business. But before we do this we should consider the alternatives to offering discounts – let’s review these.

Make sure you add value to the product, ensure that the client understands what the product will do for them. Will it save them money? Will it add value to their business or processes? Will it make their life easier?

Ensure that the customer understands if the product is discrete to your company? Why discount a product that can only be bought from your company – this is crazy!

Discounting Strategy

Have you considered offering a complimentary product that has a small cost to you but immense value to the customer? This is just an example of what you can do as opposed to falling into the trap of offering discounts right from the outset.

Other price defence strategies include letting the customer know that the price is already discounted, telling them a price rise is imminent, letting them know that these are the last of these products at this price.

If you are an organisation that pays commissions to your team, then you could include a condition in the incentive program that stipulates minimum Gross Profit Levels to be achieved before sharing out the incentives.

A suggested strategy also includes advising the client that you need to speak with a manager to have a discount approved – this is a sure way of weeding out tyre-kickers who are just out to hunt for the best price of the day.

Another suggestion is offering the client a voucher to use on a return visit – this at least will ensure that the client returns for more of your product and or services in the future.

Investing some time in your discounting strategies can be an unscheduled distraction, but could end up being a process which can put many more dollars into your bank account.

Why not invest some time in putting some of the above strategies in place?

Would your team benefit from learning more about asking questions that close sales?

Learn more about crafting a powerful sales process at Sales Training Program, B2B proven program used by National & Global Corporations on August 16-17 – perfect for any team seeking to level up in sales.

The best sales people in any team understand the value of asking great questions:

“Great Sales People, ask Great Questions!”

The better the quality of the questions the less objections you will receive when asking for the order.

Identifying who the decision makers are, is often an area that we don’t often explore enough. We need to identify how many decision makers there are and what each person’s interest is in the proposal. A decision maker may have an interest in the commercial conditions, technical aspects, your company’s capability to fulfil the contract, and so one. Hence it is important to explore who all the decision makers are what their interest is in the process.

In addition, we don’t often ask “on what basis will you make a decision”.

In this question we are soliciting information such as what is important to the prospect, is it price, is it availability, is it colour, is it the technical specification.

Once the prospect declares what their buying preferences are, then the next question should be “if we can tick all of your boxes, then is their any reason why you would not buy me from me or my company?”. This is what we call the “Manolis tick the boxes routine”.

It helps you put into perspective the buying motivations and biases of the prospect.

Sometimes, you may find that asking this question also solicits information that you may never have known about, sometimes the response that may shock you is “we have had poor past dealings with your company, and we do not wish to engage with you in this instance”.

A great response to this objection is “that is exactly why I have been hired, when is a good time for me to meet with you to discuss this matter?”

Other great questions which are also very strategic are “what is it about your current supplier that you like? “This can quite often give you a great insight as to the preferences of the prospect.

The exact reverse to that question is “what do you think your current supplier could improve on?” Now this is also a very powerful question and can quite often uncover a lot of pain. Once we start to uncover the prospects pain, we are then in a great position to be able to solve their pain and put you in the box seat when asking for the business.

Learn more about crafting a powerful sales process at Sales Training Program, B2B proven program used by National & Global Corporations on June 12 & 13 2019 – perfect for any team wanting to increase sales.