Let’s face it, most of us do not like that bit in our sales conversations when we have to ask them if they want to buy our services!
Why is that?
I’m pretty sure it comes down to the usual “fear of rejection” thing.
If you’re anything like me, as I can feel the conversation starting to build to the “do you want my services” bit, the voice in my head starts to tell me “it’s OK you can avoid asking them THE question as you can send them an email later”.
Do you do that?
The challenge
If you rely on the email approach your conversion rate is likely to be lousy.
Why? Because:
a) You’ve lost their attention. They have now moved on to all the other things they had on their things to do list and your email isn’t one of them.
b) You won’t get a good chance to handle their objections. If you are lucky they may email you with any concerns they have, but it’s more likely they’ll just say “No” and then all that time you put into that meeting would be for nothing. Ouchy!
The Solution
I now use a really simple technique.
Once I feel the conversation has covered all the bases I need it to I then ask one very simple question…”What would you like the next step to be?”.
It is beautifully effective.
That one simple question puts the ball on their court and they have to say what they want to happen.
One of a few things will happen:
1) They say they need to think about it. If they say that, then you need to ask if they have any concerns about working with you as that will open up their potential objections and, importantly, give you a chance to resolve them while you are still face to face.
Stay mindful to the potentially hidden meaning of “I want to think about it” as it could mean “it’s a no but I don’t want to say it to your face!”
If you’ve handled the sales conversation well up to this point, and have successfully identified what they want to achieve and have clearly demonstrated your services can deliver their required transformation, then this shouldn’t be an issue.
2) They say they want to proceed! So you close them without having to be salesy at all. It really can be that simple. I close 90% of my business this way. It really is effortless.
Try it, it could transform your sales conversations and conversions!