How to Close Sales in the 2,000's and Beyond

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by Michel Fortin

Are you a salesperson? Do you "close" sales? Are you often playing psychological tug-of-war with your clients? I used to for the greater part of my sales career. From the "assumptive close" right down to the famous "Benjamin Franklin close," I've used quite a few of them if not all of the tricks in the book.

However, things have changed. Today, the marketplace is just as educated and sophisticated as some of the most cunning sales champions. People hate to be marketed let alone sold, especially based on "needs." And when salespeople attempt a plethora of sales tactics, prospects not only see them coming but they also consider such techniques to be insulting.

I've been to all the seminars, heard all the tapes, seen all the videos, and read all the books on selling, negotiating, sales psychology, and sales techniques. And it wouldn't be fair for me to say that this education did not help my career in the last 16 years -- it certainly has. But in the 2,000's and beyond, the days of using 1,001 closing techniques are definitely over.

From Prospecting to Positioning
If you are positioned well, have specialized your business and focused on a very narrow niche, and have attracted prospects that not only need but also want your offer (in other words, they are pre-qualified using techniques such as those described in my book "The 10 Commandments of Power Positioning"), then there is no longer a need to close.

All you need to do is to ask for the order. In fact, after you've asked your prospect a few key questions and then presented the benefits of your offer as it relates specifically to him or her, all you really need is just one simple, single yet powerful closing question. What's the question? Before I show it to you, you need to first understand how it works.

We all communicate through different channels. Whether a channel is verbal or written, there is also a metachannel (a channel beyond the channel of communication) that predominates. It is one through which people communicate with and understand others. If you want to appreciate what a metachannel is, close your eyes for a moment and think back to when you were a child.

Either one of three things will happen. For instance, 1) you will remember the way your bedroom used to look like or recognize some familiar faces. 2) You will hear a song that was popular at the time or remember the voices of some of your childhood friends. Or 3) you will remember a certain pleasant event (such as a birthday party) or feel the warm touch of your mother's hand when she walked you to school one morning.

Do You See What I Mean?
As you can easily conclude, these 3 metachannels are: 1) Visual, 2) aural (or auditory, as it is often mistakenly called), and 3) kinesthetic. People communicate through one predominant metachannel. In other words, people do not use one metachannel exclusively, but more than any other a person will use a preferred channel to sensorially transmit information, thought, or feeling so that it is satisfactorily received or understood.

For example, if I called you on the phone and asked you "How's the weather today," you will answer in one of three ways. If you're a visual person, you will probably say "Looks like it's going to rain." If you're an aural person, you might say "I heard that's it going to be a scorcher." But if you're a kinesthetic person, then "It feels pretty cold" will probably be your answer.

Why are metachannels important in sales? You may have had the experience of once going through a presentation that seemed almost perfect. Your client not only needed but also wanted your product or service. A great conversation ensued with all the right questions asked and answered. In your mind, the sale was "in the bag." However, when came the time to ask for the order, your prospect said "I want to think it over."

While the problem may very well be due to poor sales skills or other circumstances, oftentimes it is because you were not understood by the prospect. Chances are that, if the presentation went well but did not lead to a positive outcome, your metachannel was not in sync with that of your prospect's. In plain English, you were not communicating on the same wavelength.

Channel Surfing
Metachannels are not limited to verbal presentations but also include written ones. The words you use on paper are just as important as the ones you use in person. In either case, when you discover your prospect's metachannel you should choose words, especially action words, expressions, and phrases, that are related to their preferred metachannel.

For example, use words such as "I see," "I get the picture," "show me," "focus on," "beautiful," "brilliant," "seeing is believing," or "keep your eyes peeled" with a visual prospect. With aurals, words include "I hear you," "fine tune," "sounds good," "tell me," "listen," "hear me out," or "keep your ears open." With kinesthetic individuals, use "I feel," "I sense that," "grasp," "sharp," "vibrant," "my point is," "makes sense," "out of touch," "hold on," or "get a handle."

Nevertheless, when it comes to a sales presentation and if you have done your job right, all you need to do is to ask for the order using one simple closing question. In fact, I learned about this technique from Stephan Schiffman, whom I believe to be one of the greatest and most up-to-date sales trainers today (www.dei-sales.com).

Although I adapted his technique to fit the prospect's preferred communication metachannel, the closing question contains only 10 words -- no more, no less. For visuals, the closing question is "Mr. Prospect, it looks good to me; what do you think?" For aurals, the question is "It sounds good to me; what do you think?" And for kinesthetics, the close is "It makes sense to me; what do you think?" That's it. 10 words. Period.

One Question is All You Really Need
Obviously, one of two things will happen. The prospect will either answer with "yes, it looks good to me" or "no, it doesn't." With such a simple question, you can never go wrong. If the offer does appeal to the prospect, you can then complete the transaction. But if the offer failed to do so, you can then ask why and get, as an answer, something concrete to work with.

Having a great many closing techniques under your sleeve is not all that bad. I've used quite a few in my time and still do, in some cases, out of mere habit. But one universal closing question makes the sales process easier and less insulting to an informed client. In selling, there is indeed a great power (and more so in the days to come) in simplicity.

As a sales veteran, you might not agree with me on this one. That's fine, as long as you understand that it would be foolish to think that the marketplace will always be behind the times. Nevertheless, if you implement some of the marketing techniques I teach and become a powerful magnet, you will soon discover that the need to close will eventually disappear altogether.