There is a general misconception among certain sales reps that by following the right sales cadence and the right sales closing techniques they will even be able to get a reluctant buyer to say “Yes”.
Now for this let us take two examples of sales closing techniques with colorful monikers the “Thomas Jefferson” and the “Something for Nothing” close.
By 2020, customers will handle 85% of all business contact without ever interacting with a human - Gartner Customer 360 Click To TweetIn the Thomas Jefferson close, you draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper and label either of the columns in the paper as “Pro” and “Con”.
This is what exactly the American statesman did when making important decisions while he served as the third president of the United States.
The idea behind this exercise is to aid the fence-sitting or analytical and indecisive buyers to make a purchase decision by listing the pros and cons as to why they should buy your offering.
Warning: Do not use this one unless you find a lot of good reasons in the “Pro” column.
In the Something for Nothing closing technique, you just nudge a fence-sitting buyer into buying your offerings by throwing the last-hour freebie (like: “If you sign-up right now, we will include a free…)
Now the issue with these techniques is that they place a greater emphasis on the psychological tactics and tricks designed to “coerce” the buyer into making a purchase, but at the same instance ignore what happens immediately before or after you force you buyer for making a commitment.
Now while such tactics might work out with individual buyers, these selling tricks are less effective with B2B (Business to Business) purchasers, since in B2B deals not only the asking are two high but the risk of making a mistake is greater than the B2C (Business to Consumer) sales, with multiple decision-makers who just cannot be collectively pressurized or tricked into saying “Yes” and buy your offerings.
Hence when the time is right to gain commitment from a B2B buyer, it is best to keep things simple and close the sale using the right sales cadence that works for your business, applying the ASK process as illustrated below:
Align Priorities
To do this begin by summarizing your knowledge and understanding of your customer’s business, their needs, and their priorities.
Make the summary of your observations short and to the point using verbiages like “ Based on what you said it is important to….” Or “You have said that efficiency and streamlining processes are your key priorities…”
Now if the purchaser has any other requirements, then ask additional questions about them and ensure the buyers that your proposed solution is addressing these needs.
After this ask for your buyer’s feedback by saying “Is there anything that I am missing?” Or “Did I understand that correctly?”
Now once you summarize their key priorities and receive their feedback, proceed and ask for the sale.
Secure Commitment
Summarize in a paper the key ways your purchasers will benefit by moving forward with the sale, and thereafter link the major features and benefits of your products or services to their needs.
While doing this exercise, if you find a few benefits are of vital importance just focus on them before you ask for your buyer’s commitments.
Here are the most common three non-manipulative ways of asking for an assurance from your B2B purchasers of your offerings:
“Do you think you would like to move ahead with this?”
There are many sales reps who are afraid to use this approach of selling as it can place the purchaser(s) on the spot that can lead the buyer to say “No” right away.
Nevertheless, asking for a commitment in a straightforward way is one of the most effective methods to get buyers of their fence and say “Yes” and make you win the deal.
“Can we start on the 10th?”
This technique leverages the power of suggestions by assuming that the purchaser(s) has already decided to buy.
Using this technique in your sales cadence makes the buyer then focuses on secondary issues such as quantity or delivery date for receiving the offering.
Now if this sales closing technique is difficult to use and you have confidence issues, then in such a case as yourself these two questions:
To sell it is most necessary that you must believe that your purchase will benefit from buying your products or services and so if you do not make a list of the ways your buyer will benefit by buying your offerings.
“Would you like to set a follow-up meeting for Tuesday morning or Friday afternoon?”
Offering a choice to the buyer makes your purchaser’s decision easier by providing them a choice between “which” rather than between saying “Yes” or “No”.
This is because we all know that decision making for some people can be a difficult thing because it forces them to assume responsibilities and which they consider as a risk.
Now in B2B purchases, the least risky path is to say “No”, using choice as your weapon makes it easier for your buyer to say “Yes” because in fact, they will eventually benefit by saying “Yes” and buy your product or service for their businesses.
Keep Commitment Alive
Well, as a seller you must always remember that even after the buyer says “Yes” you have a lot of works to do.
Therefore once your prospective buyer agrees to purchase, you must immediately clarify the very next step and logistics required to fulfill the sale.
Find out if your buyer understands the contracting process?
Do you need to schedule a delivery or finalize on an implementation meeting with another department or person from your buyer’s end?
This is because if there are some formal and extra implementation processes that involve other persons or departments from your establishment, you as a salesperson should personally make the hand-off, and thereafter follow-up even after the implementation is done to confirm that everything, as discussed without any ambiguity, went smoothly.
Moreover once you win the deal also confirm to your buyer past your sales cadence processes that the buyer has made a good decision by deciding on purchasing from your company, since after any buyer decides, it is human nature that they will start having doubts and qualms (i.e., buyer’s remorse) and so it is most important to strengthen your buyers (especially in B2B deals) of their decisions right after they make it.
Finally, there is one more thing that all B2B seller must remember, which sometimes sales reps forgets. Send your buyers a follow-up thank-you email or a note few days after they have signed the agreement to make them come back and ask for more.
