How to Improve Your Close Rate

Michael Halper

Sales Prospecting 101

Some Key Points

• Most common area for desired improvement

• Should be one of the easiest steps of the process

• Born a closer?

• Tremendous control

• Direct closing tactics versus indirect closing tactics

What are you trying to close?

Stage GoalsInitial Contact

(First time to speak)

Cold Call

Inbound Call

Email

Event

2 to 5 minutes

80% on prospect

20% on you

First Conversation

(Appointment/Meeting)

Phone Call

Face-to-Face

Discovery

20 to 30 minutes

50% on prospect

50% on you

First Meeting

(Presentation)

Discovery

Presentation

Demonstration

1 to 2 hours

20% on prospect

80% on you

Pre-qualify

Gather high-level information

Build interest in having conversation

Schedule a First Conversation

Hard Qualify

Gather detailed Information

Build interest in meeting

Schedule a First Meeting

Sell Product

Map out Next Steps

Close (Sale or agreement to move

forward)

Direct Closing Tactics

• Trial Close

• Assumptive Close

• Alternative Close

• Letting the Prospect Lead

• Turning Questions into Statements

• Evaluation Plan

• Compelling Event

• Disqualifying

Trial Closing

• Asking the prospect for their thoughts and opinions.

• Examples:

– What do you think of what we have discussed so far?

– How would that feature help your operation?

– Is this something you could see your employees

using?

– Do you want to continue forward with these

discussions?

– What direction do you want to go in from here?

• Should be performed in every prospect discussion

Assumptive Close

• Assumes the prospect wants to move

• Example:

– What time would you like us to put you

down for your free consultation?

Alternative Close

• Provide the prospect with two options

to choose from

• Example:

– We have workshops available on

Monday afternoon and Thursday

morning. Which one would you prefer

to be signed up for?”

Letting the Prospect Lead

• Look to the prospect to advise as to

the direction to take

• Examples:

– What would you like to do next?

– What direction would you like to go

in?

– Do you want to continue talking

about this?

– When would you like to talk again?

• Requires good execution in other

key areas

Turn Questions into Statements

• Change questions into statements to

motivate movement and commitment.

• Example:

– Question: Would you like to meet next

week?

– Statement: We should meet next week.

Evaluation Plan

Activity Date Owner Status

Meeting with Shawn Adams 6/25/2010 Smith Complete

Meeting with Executive team 7/23/2010 Smith Complete

Send info and call Shawn Adams first week of

August

Smith Open

Whiteboard session 8/13/2010 Smith/Adams Open

Process Recommendations/Proof of Capabilities 8/27/2010 Smith/Jones Open

Build Business Case 9/3/2010 Smith/Adams Open

Presentation of Draft Proposal and Contract Language 9/10/2010 Tech Inc./ XYZ Corp. Open

Communication of change requests to documents 9/17/2010 XYZ Corp. Open

Delivery of Final Executable Documents 9/24/2010 Smith Open

Partnership Agreement signed 9/30/2010 Tech Inc./ XYZ Corp. Open

Implementation TBD Tech Inc./ XYZ Corp. Open

Go live with partnership 1/2011 Tech Inc./ XYZ Corp. Open

Compelling Event

• Identify or create a compelling event and use that to drive the close

• Natural compelling event:

– Existing contract expiring

– Site opening or moving

– Existing system being discontinued

• Manufactured compelling event:

– Expiring discount

– Expiring promotion

– Limited product availability

Disqualifying

• To doubt or question the fit or potential

to move forward

• Examples:

– Maybe this is not the right direction for

you to go.

– It does not seem like this is something

you are really interested in.

• The exact opposite of what 90% of

other sales people do 100% percent of

the time

• Advanced sales tactic

Indirect Closing Tactics

• Communicating value

• Qualifying the prospect

• Finding pain

• Building rapport

• Building interest

• Building credibility

Key Takeaways

• Closing should be one of the easiest steps of your sales process

• There are things you can do to be a better closer

• Qualifying prospects better will immediately improve your close rate

• Trial close every step of the way

• Use a mix of direct and indirect closing techniques to improve results

If You Want More Help

• Books / Ebooks– The Cold Calling Equation – Problem Solved

– Do’s and Don’ts of Cold Calling

– How to Get around Cold Call Objections

– How to Build a Value Proposition that Generates Leads

– How to Build Sales Campaigns that Sell

– How to Build Email Drip Campaigns that Convert Sales

• Videos – Dozens of how to videos and slide decks

• 10 week web-based training program

• One-on-one sales coaching and consulting

• SalesScripter– www.salesscripter.com

– Walk-through services available

www.salesscripter.com | info@salesscripter.com | 713-802-2026