Water Well Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/529509
I magine being on trial. You're not guilty. After the final witness' testimony, your lawyer simply rests the case and leaves it up to the jury to make sense of all the evidence and deliver whatever verdict they feel appropriate. Would you be happy? I don't think so. Yet most sales conversations or presentations end some- thing like this: "Well, I guess that's it. Let me know if you have any questions." While the conversation certainly came to an end, that does not qualify as a closing. Closing is a process that either completes a sale or moves you one or two steps closer to it. If all you've accomplished is you got to the end of your call or presentation—you have not closed. Back to your trial. What would you want your lawyer to do at the end? You'd want him or her to take advantage of that one final opportunity to summarize your case for the jury. You'd want your lawyer to revisit the compelling points, support them with evidence, call back to what they set out to prove in their opening argument, and leave the jury with one final, strong, compelling point to remember before they begin deliberating on their verdict. The attorney has built the case. Now the attorney has earned the right to ask for the verdict. If you've built a strong case with your prospect on the value of your product or service specific to their needs, then you too have earned the right to ask for something. Not every call or meeting ends in a signed contract, but you must ask for some action. Otherwise you've just invested a lot of time and energy delivering an informative talk. An effective closing takes planning and practice. But as the final impression you make on your prospect, it's well worth the time invested. There are certain elements that go into making a closing both persuasive and memorable. Recall the objectives Pointing out what you set out to do is a natural transition into your closing. It also serves to remind your prospect of the disparity between their current state (the challenge you're there to solve) and their desired state (living with your solution). Call back to your opening You came up with a great attention-grabbing opening—a story, a theme, an interesting fact. Don't just deliver it once and let it die. Revisit it during your closing. People love the symmetry of coming full circle. For example: "As we discussed, a day of downtime in the field can add up to big money pretty quickly. With our 24/7 service and parts, you don't need to worry about that at all." Restate your value proposition You may have introduced your value proposition during your opening. But now that you have taken your prospect through the process of how you are going to achieve that value proposition, you can emphatically deliver it as a state- ment of fact. Provide proof You've shown prospects how and what you're going to deliver, but today's decision-makers demand proof. In your closing, substantiate what you can accomplish by providing one or more of the following types of evidence: Metrics: Whenever possible, quantifying proof using fig- ures and data provided by your prospect is the strongest form of evidence. For example, "Based on what you told us, each day you're out of the field can cost you upwards of $25,000." Case studies: In instances where you don't have access to your prospect's information, use a case study from a cus- tomer with a similar challenge. For example: "A similar customer of ours, Bluehole Drilling, was able to reduce downtime in the field by 18%, which resulted in a savings last year of $100,000." Industry statistics: Finding relevant statistics that support your case from trusted sources will be recognized as impar- tial and valid by most prospects. Customer quote: If you can't provide quantifiable results, use a favorable testimonial or quote from a current client. For example: "Last year we received this email from ABC Drilling: 'Your company helped us tackle a really challeng- ing project by providing us everything we needed when we needed it.'" JULIE HANSEN ACT LIKE A SALES PRO DOES YOUR SALES CONVERSATION CLOSE . . . OR JUST END? A strong, organized closing is critical to increasing sales. waterwelljournal.com 60 July 2015 WWJ An effective closing takes planning and practice . But as the final impression you make on your prospect, it's well worth the time invested.