Doug Davidoff
I've always said that closing is the result of an effective sales process. If you show me an organization that feels like they have a closing problem, I'll show you an organization that doesn't have a closing problem. Any issues you have with closing sales are merely a symptom of something that went wrong earlier in the sales process.
When making B2B sales, it's especially important to understand what drive (or prevents) an effective closing sequence. In my latest edition of The Demand Creator Minute, I share one of the keys that has always allowed me to close sales faster and more predictably than my competition. It should not come as a suprise that the key to closing sales faster, is the ability to ask questions that lead to action.
Watch Video Here
If your goal is to close sales faster you must look at what you're doing from the very beginning of the process. Powerful lead generation and lead management goes a long way to shortening the sales cycle.
When you get to the actual sales process it is important that you ask resonating questions that any expert would ask, even if they weren't selling anything. A major weakness of many questions I've seen salespeople ask is that they are very "sales process" oriented. As I share in the video above, I don't ask people how they're going to make a decision; instead I ask how they're going to adopt or implement the type of program we're discussing.
I also make sure that my questions are results oriented, not process, product or solution oriented. I want to make sure the focus is on the worth of what we're talking about, not the cost.
Finally, I share when the time comes, it's okay to be direct. Your prospects know why you're there and it's okay to ask for the sale. I've learned that there are very rarely black/white decisions. Instead, decisions lay on a continuum. Helping the prospect understand where on the continuum your offer rests can give you leverage to turn a maybe into a yes without a bunch of wasted time.
