The Five Keys to Closing a Sale

One of the big shocks for me early in my career was finding out that Sales could be an almost step-by-step process. I had always thought of it as a thing that you did by talking a lot to the customer and just “pushing” the product, whatever that means.

In the mid-nineties, I had the good fortune to work with a graduate of IBM’s legendary sales training program. Back in the early 80’s they had spent a lot of time and money figuring this stuff out and he was happy to share some information.

While there is no “magic bullet” to make anyone buy anything, there is a process that helps eliminate the “why did that sale go away” factor.

Basically, you need to have five key things in place for a sale to be able to close. If you don’t have all five covered you don’t have control of the sale. If you don’t have control, you really don’t know what’s going on and can easily have a “where did that sale go” experience... The sale can still close, but it will be due to blind luck and not good sales technique.

The Five Keys fits rather nicely in to a Sales Process.

Have you established what the customer’s needs are? Does your product or service meet those needs? Most sales people are so absorbed in the product they’re selling that they assume it is a fit for the customer’s needs. You need to explore what the customer is actually looking for and whether your product fits the bill. The critical thing is that your product must fit the bill as far as the customer is concerned.

If the customer is unaware that your product meets their needs, or worse, if they don’t believe that it meets their needs, there will be no sale.

You also need to consider if the customer’s need is critical or non-critical. If a customer’s world ends without your product, it’s a critical need. In other words, do they have to have your product in order to function? Or would they just like to have your product. Most sales are non-critical.

If you are lucky enough to have a product that meets a critical need, it will be much simpler to establish a firm timeline for your sale.

Have you really discussed budget? Not just price, budget. Yes, the customer needs to like the price, but do they actually have the budget to do this? If so, when do they have it? Are there other items competing for the same budget dollars? Are there other constraints on spending money in the budget? Who signs off on the item? The customer can love your price, but if they don’t have the budget you don’t have a sale.

A lot of folks either forget about the competition or they ignore them. Has the customer considered any competing products? If so, which ones? In the mind of the customer, are your features and overall value superior to the competition? Many sales people are reluctant to mention the competition on the grounds that it may put the idea into a customer’s head. This is just plain stupid thinking. Given how much information is easily available online, no customer in their right mind makes any kind of purchase without looking at their options, including your competition. You have to eliminate the competition by delivering superior value (notice I said superior value not better price), and again, it’s the customer’s opinion that counts, not yours.

What is the customer’s timeline for the purchase When do they need the product delivered by? Are they ready to purchase now? Will it need to be next month, next quarter, next year (see Budget, above)? If the customer says the timeline is “in the next few months” that usually means they don’t have a timeline. And that means you don’t have a sale.

Beware: Most people don’t like saying “no” to anyone, even a salesperson. The easiest way to not commit to a sale is to avoid a firm timeline. As a sales person, it is your job to fish for the real answer to this question (and all of the others). “Within the next few months” is not a real answer. “Definitely by July 31” is.

Finally, a little sales jargon. UDM = Ultimate Decision Maker. In many cases the customer you are dealing with is NOT the one to approve the purchase. Is the UDM aware of your proposal? Have they approved the purchase? If possible, it is always best to have actually spoken with the UDM, have them confirm the status and answer any questions they might have directly. If your customer is wary of having a sales person call their boss, offer to do a joint call (10 minutes or less) with them and their boss, or to communicate by email. Most UDMs don’t mind being involved in such a way – it makes them feel like they earn their paycheck

That’s all there is to it. If you have those five things under control, you’ve done everything you can to get the sale to closure.

The next step is to track your sales and see if there is a regular spot where things go awry – maybe your competition are stepping up their value, perhaps your sales guy (or gal) doesn’t lock down the timeline. Maybe your customers have a really long buying cycle (like schools or the government)?

It can also be valuable to go back and look at sales that failed before you started working this way and see if any patterns emerge. You’ll be suprised at how often one of these simple things has been overlooked...