Sales is a tough job. There are no two ways about it. Many people start a sales job with imaginations of high commissions and big paychecks, only to get worn down the constant cold calling and rejections that one must undergo in order to get to that illusive pot of gold. It can be tough, but there are a few techniques that can dramatically improve your sales, and make it easier to reach that pot of gold on the other side of all those horrible rejections. In this article, you'll learn three basic closing techniques that can dramatically improve your numbers.
The first technique is called the 'puppy dog' close. You can imagine why it has this name based on the following scenario. A family with a couple of kids comes into a pet store. They see a puppy. The kids ask if they can have it. The owner allows them to take it home for the weekend, to see what it's like. The kids, naturally, fall in love with it and the family buys the puppy. Any time you allow the client the free use of your product for any amount of time, you're using the puppy dog close. Test drives, thirty day free trials, and other common sales strategies are variations on this theme.
Another powerful technique is called the 'take away.' This means that near the end of the sales process, after you've done a tremendous job building up the value of the product, you introduce something that makes it seem like the product is just out of reach, or is in danger of being out of reach. That will make your client really hungry for your product, and they'll sometimes do almost anything to get it. Frequently, knowing that there is a waiting list for any particular product is enough to make people want it. And if you ever wonder why the book or product you want from Amazon is always out of stock, now you know. They are using the 'take away' close.
This final trick is a bit more technical, as it's based on a linguistic pattern borrowed from conversational hypnosis. Don't worry, you won't be putting anybody to sleep. This is called a 'double bind,' and is quite powerful. It involves giving your customer two choices, which in reality will lead to the same outcome. For example, if I asked you if you wanted to pay in cash or credit, it may sound like a choice, but either answer you give me means you are buying my product. You simply take two different ways to purchase your product, and present them to your client as if they are two completely separate choices.
These are just a few techniques you can learn that will dramatically improve your closing rates. By continuously studying other methods and improving your technique, you'll earn more and more money.