Yoda Wisdom: The Art of Closing

Peady’s Selling Engagement sponsored by IRD Prospector

Yoda was a legendary Jedi Master from the Star Wars movie franchise. Yoda was small in size but wise and powerful. One of his most famous lines: “Do or do not. There is no try” And that brings us to the sales practice called closing. Few sales people actually “do” and unfortunately, most don’t even try!

To prove my point. Dr Michael LeBouef in his book “How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life” reveals these statistics: 

44% of sales people give up after one ‘no’ from the prospect (the first objection). 

22% give up after two ‘no’s’ or two objections

14% give up after three ‘no’s’

and 12% give up after four ‘no’s’ 

Which means the 8% of sales people who don’t give up after four “no” responses are making the vast majority of sales! 

And how about closing tactics? Many of those sales people who do try to close often use the old methods that don’t work any longer. Methods they were taught years ago. The words sounded good then, but today they’re ineffective. 

I’m talking about “closes” such as the alternate choice, “Do you want the campaign to run ROS or in a specific program?”; the impending event close, “The price is going up next month” or the puppy dog close “Why don’t you run a trial schedule and if you’re not happy after a week or two we can cancel it?” 

Truth is, these tactics backfire more often than they work. You’ll probably have more luck saying; “are you gonna buy or not?” 

I’ve come to the conclusion after nearly 30 years in sales that the “opening” is far more important than the “closing”. What I mean by that is what you do when you first establish the relationship and how you conduct yourself from that point forward, determines the ultimate outcome. 

The stages: 

  • You need to establish rapport and from there build a level of trust – this takes time 
  • You need to have a series of genuine business conversations 
  • You need to uncover pain points or opportunities, then gain agreement with the prospect on the possible solutions 
  • You need to demonstrate the value of your plan, how it will benefit their business and again seek agreement on it 
and 
  • You need to be both on the same page on the implementation process 

A set of clear logical steps, an outcome built one “brick” at a time. A series of “mini-closes” not one big event – an event that many sales people see as stressful is now avoided altogether because you have earned the business, not closed it. A big difference! 

Fact is, we all love to buy, but not to be sold. Back to Yoda. “Do or do not. There is no try.” 

About the author 

Stephen Pead is a media industry veteran of 30 years with significant experience in direct sales, sales management and general management. He is based in Sydney and specialises in helping SME’s market their businesses more effectively and providing training for salespeople and sales managers.
He can be contacted at [email protected]

 

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