17 © Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy. The prospect says, “I don’t think that your product will perform to my specifications.” You say, “If we can prove to you that it will, would you take it?” The prospect says, “Well, I don’t think you can get it here on time.” You immediately say, “If we can get it to you on schedule, would you take it?” This approach forces the prospect to say either, “Yes, I’ll take it,” or “That’s not the real reason why I’m not making a buying decision.” This gives you a chance to uncover exactly why the prospect is hesitating. 11 . The Instant Reverse Close The instant reverse close is a technique you can use all the time. It takes little bit of courage to use the first time, but it is very effective. Let us say that a prospect says, “I can’t afford it.” You immediately respond by saying, “That’s exactly why you should buy it!” The prospect will react with surprise. “What? How do you mean?” You then say, “That’s exactly why you should take it, Mr. Prospect.” And then you explain how and why he will benefit from paying more than he was expecting to for what you are selling. You may not even have an answer when you say this, so you have to think of the answer very quickly. The answer just has to be logical. It doesn’t have to be great. It just has to be logical. Here is another way you can use the instant reverse close. You call a prospect to arrange an appointment and the per - son on the line says, “I’m not interested.” (Have you ever heard that before?) You say, “Mr. Prospect, that’s exact - ly why I’m calling.” The prospect will be caught off guard. “What?” You say, “Mr. Prospect, most of our very best cus - tomers were not interested when we first contacted them. But now they’ve become our best customers and they rec - ommend us to their friends.” The prospect will usually say, “Really, what is it then?” And you say, “That’s exactly what I would like to show you, and I just need ten minutes of your time.” And immediately, you move on to close on the appointment. A prospect says, “We don’t use that in our house.” You say, “That’s exactly why you should take it.” Why? Super-Charge Your Sales NOW and Double Your Income Within the Next 12 Months – Guaranteed! Become a Sales Powerhouse, Starting TODAY. Revealed: A Road-Tested System for Selling More, Faster, No Matter What the Economy is Doing. Harness “The Psychology of Selling” and earn more, faster and easier than you ever thought possible. Click here to learn more about The Psychology of Selling >> 18 © Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy. “Well, if you keep using the same product, Mr. Prospect, you’ll never have any idea that there are better products that are available on the market.” And then you proceed to ask for a few minutes to show the pros - pect how your product or service is better or more affordable than they might have thought. 12 . The Change Places Close The change places close is very simple. You are giving a presentation and the prospect will not tell you the key issue, the number one reason why they won’t buy. As you know, for every product or service that a person can buy, there is a key benefit that they want and there’s a key issue or a key objection that is stopping them from buying it. And until you can find out what that key objection is and deal with it, they will never buy from you. Many of your closing techniques are ways of getting the person to tell you what is stopping them from making a decision. Here is how you use the change places close in this situation. You say, “Mr. Prospect, would you change places with me just for a second?” “Please put yourself in my shoes,” (which prospects will do if they are at all empathetic.) You say, “Imagine if you were talking to somebody that you really respected, and you were showing them a product or a service that was really good for them, and they wouldn’t tell you why it is they wouldn’t make a decision, one way or another. What would you do if you were in my position?” Almost invariably the prospect will say, “Well, I’ll tell you why I’m hesitating.” And he will give you the rea - sons why he is hesitating, enabling you to answer them and go on with the sale. You can simply ask, “Mr. Prospect, what would you do in if you were in my position?” To prompt him to give you more information, you can say, “Tell me, is it the money?” If it’s not the money, he will say, no it’s not the money. You can then ask, “Then may I ask what it is that is causing you to hesitate?” He may say, “Yes, it’s the money.” You can then say, “Mr. Prospect, what would we have to do to satisfy you on that point?” Or, “What would we have to do to do a deal today?” Or, “How far apart are we?” These are powerful closing questions. Sometimes you will find that you are very close on the price. You may find that it is another issue. Some - times people say that they will not pay over X number of dollars because their brother-in-law got one just like it for X number of dollars. And you could find yourself just a few dollars apart. So ask them, how far apart are we? Or, Mr. Prospect, what do we have to do to do a deal today? You tell me and I’ll find out if it’s possible. Until you can find out what the key objection is and deal with it, they will never buy from you. 19 © Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy. Most people are honest. He will say, “This is what we would have to do to do a deal.” And you say, “Okay, let me see what I can do.” And at least you’re still in the game. You’re still in the ring. You still have a chance to sell. 13 . The Secondary Close This is one of the most popular closing techniques of all time. You use it to close on a minor point. Sometimes it is called the minor question close. For example, imagine you are selling a car, and you say, “By the way, will you want the CD player or the satellite radio with the surround sound system?” It doesn’t really matter to you which he chooses. In either case, he has decided to buy the car. Let us say you are selling a house. You ask, “By the way, would you want to take possession on the 1st or the 15th of the month?” Whichever date they select, they’ve made the decision to buy the house. In other words, you close on a minor question rather on the entire purchase decision. It is much easier for a prospect to make a decision on a minor point than on the whole offer. You can always find a minor point to close on. You can say, “Will that be cash or charge?” Even before the prospect has decided whether she wants to buy. “Well, I’ll pay cash.” They’ve made the buying decision. How they pay for it is a minor issue. 14 . The Alternative Close The alternative close is based on this rule. Never offer a prospect the choice between some - thing and nothing. Always make it a choice between one of two items. Always offer him a choice between Product A or Product B. “Which house do you like best? This one or this one? Which car do you prefer? The 2-door or the 4-door? Which type of tires do you want? The radial or the standard?” Always give them at least two choices. The prospect will answer you and say, “Well, I like product A better or I like product B better, or I don’t like either product.” You can then ask why. This gives you an opportunity to continue sell - ing. But don’t ever ask, “Do you want this or not?” 15 . The Preference Close Always ask, “Which do you prefer?” This is called the preference close. Which do you prefer? Asking people which they prefer is a good way of finding out where you are in the sales presentation. This is another version of the Alternative Close and it is very helpful in getting a buying response from a prospect. 20 © Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy. 16 . The Assumption Close The assumption close is often called the “talking past the sale” close. You simply assume that the person has decided to buy. You talk exactly as if he has just said, “Yes, I’ll take it.” You assume the sale and ask something like, “How would you like to make payment?” or “Where would you want this delivered?” or “How soon do you need it?” For example, imagine that you have just finished your presentation. You ask, “Well, who is going to handle the mortgage arrangements for this?” Even before the prospect says, “Yes, I’ll take it,” you ask, “Who will handle the mortgage arrangements?” You assume that he has decided to buy. You talk past the sale and you go on to wrap up the details. This assumption close is one of the most powerful closes you can learn. It only takes a little practice to master. 17 . The Take Away Close With the take away close, even before the prospect says yes or no, you begin to suggest that the product may not be available. You might be out of stock. Sometimes people are not even aware that they want the item until you suggest that they may not be able to get it. One example of the take away close is the situation where you finish the sales presentation and the pros - pect has not yet made a decision. You have answered all their objections. He starts saying something like, “Well, it seems kind of expensive. I don’t know if we can afford it right now.” You say, “Excuse me for a moment. We were talking about the blue one, weren’t we? We’ve really had a run on the blue ones lately. They are very popular. Let me call the office (or the warehouse), and make sure we still have them in stock. May I use your telephone?” The prospect suddenly becomes aware that he might not be able to get it. He says, “Yes. You can use my telephone.” At that moment, he has made the decision to buy. You can phone, confirm availabil - ity, and then hang up and say, “You’re in luck. There’s only one left and I reserved it for you.’ Many people don’t realize how badly they want something until you suggest to them that they can’t have it. When we are teenagers, we call this “playing hard to get.” You didn’t even know that you were interested in that boy or girl until he or she began playing this game with you. Many people don’t realize how badly they want something until you suggest to them that they can’t have it. 21 © Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy. They use this technique in stores all the time. You are looking at an item and the salesperson says, “Do you like that?” You say, “Yes, it looks all right.” The salesperson immediately says, “Well, let me make sure we have it in your size. I’ll go and check.” You say, “Yes, make sure you have it in my size.” You have just decided to buy it. The salesperson returns and says, “Yes we do have it in your size, just one.” And suddenly you want it, before someone else gets it. This is a closing technique they use in ladies’ boutiques. They all use it. Here is another example you are familiar with; a woman is trying on something in a store. It’s expensive. (This technique is never used with anything cheap.) When someone is trying on something that’s expen - sive, the sales clerks have an invisible signal. They wave their hands or ring a bell, or something. It causes all the other sales clerks to come running over. You’re trying on something that is ridiculously expensive. And they all rush up and say, “Ooh, that looks very good on you, doesn’t it?” All the sales clerks cluster around like hens. They cluck and they say, “Yes, that looks really good on you. Oh, that looks good on you.” And you say, “Really? You really think so?” And they say, “Oh, yes, yes, yes!” As soon you say, “Well, okay,” they break up and all rush back to their customers. Meanwhile, you’ve bought the item. My wife has come home with the funniest looking outfits as a result of being closed like this. But she wants to try it on for me because she’s not quite sure if she made the right choice. She’s not quite sure why she bought it at all. She comes in and she says, “Be perfectly honest with me.” And I’ll say, “I don’t really think it suits you.” And she will say, “But everybody in the store said it looked great on me. And there was only one left in my size.” Be very alert to this technique being used on you, or on someone you know . 18 . The Puppy Dog Close This is one of the most powerful and best closes of all. It is based on the old story where the kids corner the parents and say, “We want a puppy. We want a puppy. We want a puppy.” The parents, know - ing what is involved in caring for a dog, say, “No! You’re not getting a dog. You won’t take proper care of it.” The children then say, “Well, please just take us to the pet store and let us look at the puppies. Eventually the parents give in and take them to the store, but just to look. The pet store owners are smart. They know what’s going and what the parent is thinking. They will then say, “You don’t have to make a decision like this right away. You want to be sure. Why don’t you take this little puppy home and just play with it for the weekend? And if you don’t like it, you can bring it back on Monday.” The kids say, “Yes, yes, yes, just for the weekend, just for the weekend!” And the parents say, 22 © Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy. “Well, all right. Just for the weekend. Just for Sunday.” Well, by Sunday night, the kids have lost interest in the dog and the par - ents have fallen in love with it. As a result, they end up keeping the puppy, and the sale is made. This method really works. Any time you can give your prospect an opportunity to touch, taste, feel, smell, or use the product, this is a puppy dog close. One of the most successful photocopier distribution companies I’ve ever seen has one simple marketing and sales strategy. “Place machines.” They have ten trucks and 30 sales people. All the salespeople do is to visit prospective customers and invite them to try out their machines at no charge for a week. Once the prospect has used the machine for a week, he/she gets used to it. They like it. They enjoy its superior features to what they’ve been using in the past. Initially they may say, “No, thank you. I’m not interested. I can’t afford it.” But after they have used it for a week, they become accustomed to it, enjoy the convenience of it, and they decide to keep it. I used to have a friend who sold motor homes, big, expensive motor homes. They cost fifty thousand dol - lars and more. And in good times and bad, this salesman was one of the top motor home sales people in America. Here is how he used the puppy dog close. A prospect would come in to look at a motor home. Now, this salesman knows that people who buy motor homes shop around before buying. They go to every single vendor of motor homes within one hundred miles. Motor home owners and purchasers are fanatics. And they know everything there is to know about motor homes. So when they come in, he meets with them and talks to them. He shows them through the motor homes. He doesn’t try to close them. He establishes rapport with them. He tells them his name and he learns their names. He gives them his business card. He gets their address and phone number. He says, “We have a newslet - ter on motor homes and we’ll put you on the mailing list.” The next weekend, he phones them at about ten or eleven o’clock Saturday morning. Now, where are most people at ten o’clock, eleven o’clock Saturday One of the most successful photocopier distribution companies I’ve ever seen has one simple marketing and sales strategy. “Place machines.” 24 © Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy. 19 . The Ben Franklin Close The Ben Franklin close is one of the most powerful of all closing techniques for a very simple reason. This method closely parallels the way you and I think and make decisions in every area of our lives. We weigh the pros and cons. We look at the reasons in favor of a decision, and compare them with the reasons against making the decision. The Ben Franklin originates with Benjamin Franklin, America’s first self-made millionaire. He developed the habit of making his decisions by taking a piece of paper and drawing a line down the center. He would write all the reasons in favor of making the decision on one side of the paper, and all the reasons opposed to the decision on the other side. He would then study the lists, and make his decision. Whenever you are selling anything complex, this is an excellent method to use. When a prospect is having difficulty making up his mind because of a variety of different factors, you say, “Mr. Prospect, let’s use the Ben Franklin decision making method. It’s very simple. Ben Franklin used to use this and he became one of the richest men in America, making decisions on this basis. This is how it works. Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the center. Now, let’s write down all the reasons in favor of making this purchase decision on the left hand side.” You then start listing off all the benefits and advantages of your prod - uct or service. “Remember we talked about this? And remember we talked about that? And we talked about this, and it does this, and it does that. And you have this and it includes this, and so on.” You have the prospect write down every single buying reason you can think of. You restate all the good reasons for buying your product. And then you ask, “Is that everything, Mr. Prospect?” “Can you think of anything else?” The prospect will eventually say, “No, I think that’s everything.” You then say, “Okay. Now, you fill out the other side.” And you hand him the pad of paper and the pen. You then sit quietly. Now, the sharpest prospect I’ve ever seen couldn’t think of more than two or three reasons not to buy. You then look at his list and you say, “Well, Mr. Prospect, it looks like you’ve made your decision.” The prospect will almost invariably say, “Well, yes. I guess I have.” You can then go on to wrap up the sale. I taught this close recently to a gentleman who sells and leases commercial real estate. He told me later that he had heard about this close all his life but he had never used it. Then he found himself in a negotia - Have the prospect write down every single buying reason you can think of. 25 © Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy. tion with a large financial institution involving the sale of a series of properties between two institutions. He had been going back and forth with these people for three weeks. He said, finally, “Why don’t we use the Benjamin Franklin decision making method?” Since they had nothing to lose, they decided to give it a try. The vice president of the financial institution sat down and went through the Ben Franklin decision-making method. The salesperson told me that he followed the method, word for word. After listing all the reasons in favor of proceeding, he turned it over to the vice president and said, “Now, you write the reasons opposed.” The vice president could only come up with two or three reasons. The salesman then said, “Well, it looks like you’ve made your decision.” The vice president said, “You’re right. I have. Let’s go with it.” The sales - man made about $50,000 commission on that sale. He said he was just amazed. 20 . The Summary Close The summary close is used at the end of the presentation. You say, “Now, let’s just briefly go over what we’ve talked about.” You then summarize everything that you have just discussed and explained. You summarize the features and the benefits, one by one. You go through the entire list, right down to the last reason he/she should buy. You ask, “Can you think of anything else?” The prospect will usually say “No.” You then say, “Well, why don’t you give it a try?” Or “Should we get started on this right away?” Or “Is this what you had in mind?” Or “Why don’t you take it?” And you just simply close the sale. When you summarize all the reasons for buying the product or service one after another, you will bring the prospect to the point of his greatest buying desire for what you are selling. For example, let’s say that you’re selling a home. You say, “Before you make a decision, let’s look at all the features of this particular home. Well, it has this open kitchen. And it has a big backyard. And it has four bedrooms and a den. It has a double garage. It is on a quiet street, close to schools and shopping. It is well built and cared for. The price fits within your guidelines.” And so on. You can probably get to forty positive features with a little bit of creativity. The prospect says, “Wow! You’re right. It’s got all the features that we are looking for.” They didn’t realize how good the home was until it was perfectly described. A summary close can be a powerful way to over - whelmingly convince the prospect that what you are selling them is a good deal. 26 © Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy. 21 . The Order Sheet Close The order sheet close is first used when the presentation begins. The prospect comes to see you, or you go to see him/her, and the first thing you do is to pull out an order sheet and write the date on it. From then on, whenever the prospect says anything about the product or service, you write it on the order sheet. The prospect may try to stop you by saying, “Wait a minute, don’t write anything down, I’m not buy - ing anything today, I’m just looking.” You reply, “I understand, but I have a terrible memory for detail. So I like to write everything down. And if you don’t buy anything today, we’ll just throw it away. Okay?” And you just keep writing on the order sheet. Eventually the prospect gets used to seeing their information written on your sales contract. It becomes harder and harder not to buy when the sales conversation is over. Another way that you can use the order sheet close is to just pull out the order sheet and start filling it out at the end of the presentation. Assume the sale and begin completing the details. The customer has to stop you from writing to stop the sale from proceeding. Then you say, “Could you give me the exact spelling of your last name for mailing purposes?” They give you the exact spelling of their last name, they’ve made the decision to buy. 22 . The Relevant Story Close This is a powerful closing technique because we make all of our decisions with the right brain. And the right brain is stimulated by stories and pictures. Whenever you can create a picture, as in the power of suggestion close, or when you can use visual sales aids, or whenever you can tell a story about your product or service, you can stimulate the prospect to buy. People will remember a story about a product or service for years, but they will forget all the technical details in ten minutes. You can use a relevant story close when the prospect is hav - ing difficulty making a decision. You can use it in the middle of a presentation, as well. You can tell a relevant story about another prospect who was hesitating about buying this product or service, and they finally decided to do it. Explain how happy they are to - day that they bought it. People will remember a story about a product or service for years, but they will forget all the technical details in ten minutes. 29 © Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy. These are the 24 best closing techniques of all time. They are vital sales tools. They have to be mastered through study and practice. The more tools you have in your sales toolbox, the more likely you are to make a sale. For some fields of selling you’ll only need two or three closing techniques, and you’ll use those all the time. But the more sales closing techniques you know, the more competent you will become at closing. Here’s a final piece of advice that helped me dramatically when I started my career. And it’s simply this. Use throwaway presentations to develop your skills. Whenever you get into a presentation with a person who you know is not going to buy, and you know you have nothing to lose, throw the whole book at him. Try out every closing technique and every qualifying technique and every objection answering technique that you can think of. You only really learn sales techniques by using them face to face with a live prospect. When you meet a person who’s not going to buy, develop your skills by using them all. In these throwaway presentations, where you just sit in there and work away until you literally get thrown out, you will learn more, faster about how to close good prospects than in any other way. The key to sales success is to act boldly and to close boldly. In other words, ask for the order boldly. Ask it like you confi - dently expect the other person to buy. Act as though it were impossible to fail. Ask the closing question like it is incon - ceivable to you that the person could say anything but yes. And practice your voice. Practice your tone. Make sure that you look like a million dollars. Make sure that your voice is strong and bold and clear when you ask. Speak strongly. Ask as though you expect the person to say yes. To be a great sales closer, you must be enthusiastic. You must love your product. You must believe in your product. You must have confident expectations, and you must persist. Persistence is to the character of man and woman as carbon is to steel. If you will persist, if you will keep on keeping on, no matter how many times people tell you “No“ you must and will eventually succeed. No matter how many doors you knock on, no matter how many times you get turned down, if you will keep persisting and persisting and persisting, you will succeed, and you will become one of the great sales people of your generation. Super-Charge Your Sales NOW and Double Your Income Within the Next 12 Months – Guaranteed! Become a Sales Powerhouse, Starting TODAY. Revealed: A Road-Tested System for Selling More, Faster, No Matter What the Economy is Doing. Harness “The Psychology of Selling” and earn more, faster and easier than you ever thought possible. Click here to learn more about The Psychology of Selling >>
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