Timing and Importance of Suggestion Selling

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Does it offer warranty?

Social Needs: Does is stand in line with other conventional ovens?

Are these ovens family friendly?

Do you offer newsletters to upscale customers?

Do you offer periodic mailings for new products and incentives to purchase?

Are these ovens effective for cooking holiday dinners?

Psychological Needs: Do these ovens offer strong market appeal?

Do you offer options to return unsold goods for credit?

Will this product deliver the promised performance?

Is the brand name consistent with consumer’s self-images?

Are your ovens as good as Walmart or Lowe’s conventional ovens?

Will these ovens take up too much space in my household?

Knowledge Needs: How are the ovens constructed?

How do the new features impact performance?

What makes the ovens unique and superior to competitive offerings?

What is the assurance level that everybody will not have the same oven as

others?

What is the average life span of your ovens?

Closing Step of the Sales Process

The final step in the sales process is the close. One of the hardest lessons for new salespeople is the importance of closing every sale. The close doesn't have to be as difficult as it seems. Closing is also where most sales professional experience anxiety, lose confidence, try to hard or simply avoid having to close at all. Despite what you might have read or heard about sales, this step should be easy and quick. It is the cumulative effect of all your hard work during the first three steps of prospecting, qualifying and presenting. It doesn't matter how good your product is. It doesn't matter how smart your marketing is. It doesn't matter how personable and knowledgeable you are. If you can't close the deal, your company has wasted time and energy.If there is no sale at this point, then something was missed in your presentation sales process. If you presented the product well and responded to the prospect's objections, the close follows naturally. It is considered by many to be the most important part of the sale.

The Importance and Timing of Closing the Sale

Closing is about advancing the sales process to ultimately get an order. What you are trying to sell at each stage may be different. For example, a close early in the sales process may be to get an appointment to discuss your product/service, in that case you are selling an appointment not a widget. In a later stage you might need to meet with a committee, in that case what you are selling is a meeting. Seeing the sale process in this light takes a little pressure off of each encounter and makes things a bit more manageable. But don’t be lulled into complacency, you must ultimately ask for the order and no sales conversation should ever end without an agreement to some next step. Do not be satisfied with “we’ll get back to you”, where is the agreement in that? The evaluation of salespersons is based heavily on their ability to close sales. Certainly, other factors are considered in evaluating performance, but the bottom line for most salespeople is their ability to consistently produce profitable sales volume. Nobody wants a salesperson who cannot effectively close a sale. That is why being a salesperson is a job only for people who can effectively communicate with people and strike a deal. Individuals who perform as salespeople occupy a unique role: they are the only individuals in their companies who bring revenue into the company. The timing of a deal is just as important as its value, if not more so. Timing becomes especially critical as you approach the finish line. Get the timing right, and you win. Get it wrong, and you lose. Trying to close too soon and it makes it look like you are trying to rush the customer into deciding. No customer wants to feel like they are being rushed to make a decision on a purpose. The higher the stakes in a selling situation, the more important it is that you follow a dependable sales process that will keep your timing in sync with the customer all the way to a final commitment. An effective step that salespeople use to time a sale is the “trial close” method. The most important thing you can do to improve your sales closing performance is to master “trial closing” techniques. Trial closing achieves two critical things: It tells you where you are in the sales process and it tells you when to ask for the sale. Most salespeople don’t really know where they are in the sales process. When they try to close the deal there are too many impediments or unanswered questions on the part of the buyer and the answer is “no”. The salesperson doesn’t like the word “no” and doesn’t know how to respond, so he/she walks away with another lost opportunity. It cannot be stated enough how important closing and timing when to close is important to the sales process.

Different Dialogs Showing When and How to Close

- The Assumptive Close

Customer: “I believe that I would like to purchase one of you conventional ovens.”

Me: “That is excellent news. Would you prefer the SG or VC series conventional ovens?”

Customer: “I would like to go home with one of your SG or VC series ovens.”

Me: “Yes sir/ma’am, would you prefer the gas or electric version of those grills?”

- The Apology Close

Customer: “I feel like I will not purchase one of your ovens anymore as I cannot seem to decide whether or not I know enough information

Me: “I owe you an apology. Somewhere along the line, I must have left out important information, or in some way left you room for doubt. We both know our product suits your needs perfectly, and so the fault here must be with me."

Customer: