There is enough sales literature in existence to read for an entire lifetime. I ignore nearly all of it, and pay attention only to the content relevant to me: How do I "close" large sales?
Many of the content that exists about sales - particularly about closing techniques - is quite helpful for small sales. However, when you start dealing with five figure, six-figure, seven figure - and higher - transactions - the evidence suggests that "closing techniques" are kind of corny gimmicks that do NOT help us land the large contract.
Below are a few selected excerpts from SPIN Selling (The Best Validated Sales Method Available Today, Developed From Research Studies of 35,000 Sales Calls.) <<-- Link
What is Closing?
"Unfortunately, very few of the writers who have so persuasively filled volumes on how to close have defined the term closing." (page 21)
Closing for Real
Talking to other people certainly influenced my opinions. But there's nothing so powerful as a real-life personal experience - which was what finally convinced me that closing is by far the most important of all selling skills. I had left my safe university job and had set up the Huthwaite organization. Now, I realized, selling wasn't just an academic study for me. I had to sell my services or go hungry. So I enrolled in a sales training program - and paid particular attention to the area of closing techniques.
In the week following the program, I had an appointment with a potential client with whom I'd been talking for several months in an attempt to sell this client a research project. I decided to try an Alternative Close. I'll never forget the result. "Would you prefer the project to begin in September or in November?" I asked, a little nervously. "Let's start in September," my client answered - and I'd gotten my first big sale. I was delighted. I said the magic words and was rewarded with an order. I doubt if even J. Douglas Edwards, the father of closing, could have been more enthusiastic about closing than I was at that moment. For more than a year after my first success, I closed the hell out of everyone. I now realize that I probably cost myself and my company a lot of lost business during that year. But at the time I was a totally convinced hard closer. After all, my personal experience showed that using an Alternative Close had given me my first big piece of business. I knew closing worked.
I look back on my enthusiasm for closing with real embarrassment. From what I now know about success in the larger sale, I see closing techniques as both ineffective and dangerous. I've evidence that they lose much more business than they gain. What made me turn against methods that seemed so important to my own success? The rest of this chapter describes the series of studies that finally convinced me that traditional closing techniques have no place in larger sales. (page 23)
Two Conclusions
How should we interpret these results? The first finding is that, with both high - and low-value goods, the average transaction time is reduced as the number of closes is increased. So we can draw the conclusion: By forcing the customer into a decision, closing techniques speed the sales transaction.
This would be an important finding - and a big plus for the use of closing techniques - if your business were a low-value retail operation or involved door-to-door selling of low-value products. If there's a queue of customers waiting for your attention, or an infinitely long street with doors on both sides just waiting to be knocked on, then the shorter the sale, the more customers you'll be able to serve.
But this is not usually the problem in larger sales. You normally want more time with each customer, not less. In most major-account sales forces, the most common complaint is that you can't get enough time with the right people. I don't think I've ever heard anyone in larger sales say, "How can I cut down on the time I'm spending with key decision makers?" However, a number of companies have called Huthwaite in to advise them on ways to increase sales time with customers. My point's a simple one: In small sales it's generally desirable to keep the transaction time short; in larger sales - for a whole variety of reasons - a shorter transaction time has a few advantages and many penalties.
The second conclusion we can draw from our study is about the relationship of closing to price: Closing techniques may increase the chances of making a sale with a low-priced products. With expensive products or services, they reduce the chances of making a sale.
As we've seen, this conclusion comes not only from our research but also from the general psychological rule that pressure is more likely to be effective with small decisions than larger ones. (page 33)
Many of the content that exists about sales - particularly about closing techniques - is quite helpful for small sales. However, when you start dealing with five figure, six-figure, seven figure - and higher - transactions - the evidence suggests that "closing techniques" are kind of corny gimmicks that do NOT help us land the large contract.
Below are a few selected excerpts from SPIN Selling (The Best Validated Sales Method Available Today, Developed From Research Studies of 35,000 Sales Calls.) <<-- Link
What is Closing?
"Unfortunately, very few of the writers who have so persuasively filled volumes on how to close have defined the term closing." (page 21)
Closing for Real
Talking to other people certainly influenced my opinions. But there's nothing so powerful as a real-life personal experience - which was what finally convinced me that closing is by far the most important of all selling skills. I had left my safe university job and had set up the Huthwaite organization. Now, I realized, selling wasn't just an academic study for me. I had to sell my services or go hungry. So I enrolled in a sales training program - and paid particular attention to the area of closing techniques.
In the week following the program, I had an appointment with a potential client with whom I'd been talking for several months in an attempt to sell this client a research project. I decided to try an Alternative Close. I'll never forget the result. "Would you prefer the project to begin in September or in November?" I asked, a little nervously. "Let's start in September," my client answered - and I'd gotten my first big sale. I was delighted. I said the magic words and was rewarded with an order. I doubt if even J. Douglas Edwards, the father of closing, could have been more enthusiastic about closing than I was at that moment. For more than a year after my first success, I closed the hell out of everyone. I now realize that I probably cost myself and my company a lot of lost business during that year. But at the time I was a totally convinced hard closer. After all, my personal experience showed that using an Alternative Close had given me my first big piece of business. I knew closing worked.
I look back on my enthusiasm for closing with real embarrassment. From what I now know about success in the larger sale, I see closing techniques as both ineffective and dangerous. I've evidence that they lose much more business than they gain. What made me turn against methods that seemed so important to my own success? The rest of this chapter describes the series of studies that finally convinced me that traditional closing techniques have no place in larger sales. (page 23)
Two Conclusions
How should we interpret these results? The first finding is that, with both high - and low-value goods, the average transaction time is reduced as the number of closes is increased. So we can draw the conclusion: By forcing the customer into a decision, closing techniques speed the sales transaction.
This would be an important finding - and a big plus for the use of closing techniques - if your business were a low-value retail operation or involved door-to-door selling of low-value products. If there's a queue of customers waiting for your attention, or an infinitely long street with doors on both sides just waiting to be knocked on, then the shorter the sale, the more customers you'll be able to serve.
But this is not usually the problem in larger sales. You normally want more time with each customer, not less. In most major-account sales forces, the most common complaint is that you can't get enough time with the right people. I don't think I've ever heard anyone in larger sales say, "How can I cut down on the time I'm spending with key decision makers?" However, a number of companies have called Huthwaite in to advise them on ways to increase sales time with customers. My point's a simple one: In small sales it's generally desirable to keep the transaction time short; in larger sales - for a whole variety of reasons - a shorter transaction time has a few advantages and many penalties.
The second conclusion we can draw from our study is about the relationship of closing to price: Closing techniques may increase the chances of making a sale with a low-priced products. With expensive products or services, they reduce the chances of making a sale.
As we've seen, this conclusion comes not only from our research but also from the general psychological rule that pressure is more likely to be effective with small decisions than larger ones. (page 33)
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