Business Problem: Difficulty Closing Sales

Without question, closing a sale requires hard work and persistence. The success rate for most companies is dependent upon a number of factors including:

-The quality or perceived quality of the product or service in question.
-Price.
-The strength of the relationship between the sales rep or other key company representative involved in the process and the customer.
-The quality of the sales presentation(s).
-The strength of competition.
-The reputation of the company.
-The diligence and timeliness of the sales rep or other key company representative in responding to the customer's questions, concerns and issues.
-Past buying experience(s) with the company.

While there are probably other factors that enter into the decision of the customer, we believe the factors identified above are the most critical. Most organizations think that price is the single most important factor in closing sales. However, price is most often a factor when there is little differentiation in the other factors identified above. Otherwise, it is not generally the primary reason for purchasing from one supplier over another.

But, concentrating on keeping costs down to support as low a price as possible is certainly not a bad idea. It is always a good idea to control product/service input costs without sacrificing quality to allow flexibility in pricing while maintaining reasonable gross profit levels. This is certainly an area that many organizations need to work on. Obviously, most customers will not pay an unreasonable premium even when a strong relationship exists.

Beyond price it is extraordinarily important for businesses to focus on developing as strong a relationship as possible with their customers. A relationship is built in a number of ways. Previous buying experiences help the customer evaluate courtesy and quality of staff, follow up, responsiveness to questions and problems, product/service quality and overall level of customer service.

In the absence of previous buying experience there is little for the customer to go on in terms of evaluating the company. Therefore, it is imperative that sales reps and others involved in the selling and relationship development process do an excellent job of contacting the customer, establishing an initial relationship, developing that relationship throughout the selling process and beyond and following up diligently and carefully to questions and concerns of the customer. Sales reps that have a "quick strike" mentality are those that believe that relationship development is secondary to getting the sale. In fact, if reps would view the process differently and focus first on the relationship and second on the sale, the closing rate will almost always go up.

Here are some tips for closing sales at a higher rate:

-Set clear, demanding and reasonable expectations for sales reps about making sales calls and territory coverage. See Expect Your Sales Force To Make The Calls for more information.
Hire relationship-oriented sales people with strong customer service skills.

-Train sales reps carefully in presentation skills. Making poor presentations can hurt closing rates due to lack of clarity and the fact that a negative perception is created. Train reps in handling objections. Sales reps sometimes handle objections in objectionable ways such as putting down competitors. Teach your reps to focus on what your company can do for the customer and how it will benefit them.

-Be persistent without being a pest. Don't leave the customer wondering if you are interested in his/her business by leaving long intervals between contacts. By the same token, don't make contact so often that is becomes annoying.

-Be honest. Don't lie to customers or make things up. If you don't know an answer, don't offer one. Tell the customer you will get an answer and get back to them quickly. Then do it. Don't leave the customer in the dark!

-Make certain that the proposal or sales material is well written, clear and concise and provides enough detail for the customer to evaluate your offer.

-Ask for the business! Making a presentation and following up on a customer's questions will generally only get you so far. Don't be shy. Ask for the sale in a way that shows you care about the customer and value his/her business. Don't be overly aggressive, but don't be reluctant to go for the gold, so to speak.

-After the sale, follow up to ensure a high quality of service. Work on strengthening the relationship and assist in dealing with any after-sale problems that arise.

-Clearly, closing a sale is a process. It is rarely a matter of making a single call and getting the order. It requires diligence, patience, professionalism and tenacity.