The Weakest Sales Closing Technique – Seeing the Buyer Shift

In order for your sales closing techniques to work, your buyer has to be primed. Building rapport, presenting, demonstrating, handling questions and objections – these are all part of that priming process. There is a stage in all these where average salespeople tend to falter, and that is the critical moment where they need to “go for the kill.”

They either go too soon, or wait too long, meaning they have missed or are unaware of the cues showing the prospect has shifted into thinking “I’m ready.”

I cover this buyer’s shift and how to recognize it in my new book, Close Deals Faster: The 15 Shortcuts of the Asher Sales Method. Here is a brief overview so you can add it to your arsenal and improve your sales closing techniques right away (please order your copy to get ALL the data).

Six closing principles

In the book, I detail six principles which form a shortcut to closing deals faster. They are:

1. You cannot close until the buyer is ready to buy.
2. Most buyers will almost never close themselves, even when they’re ready.
3. The combination of the conversation and the buyer’s body language tells you when the buyer is ready (buyer’s shift).
4. Buyers want a definitive closing proposal.
5. Once you make the offer, be silent until the buyer responds.
6. Once the buyer has agreed, QUIT TALKING ABOUT THE DEAL!

So in order to use sales closing techniques effectively, these principles require you prime the buyer and then stay very attuned to their body language and verbal cues which indicate that NOW is the time to ask for the commitment.

And you must ask for the commitment in most cases, because very few buyers will offer it up on their own. They expect to be asked!

And the last two principles are there so you don’t unclose the deal through removing the pressure for a decision in number 5, or bringing up something they could use to back out in number 6.

Verbal and non-verbal cues

Here are a few of the major cues. There are more which are covered in greater detail in the book and our training programs; these will get you started:

• Risk mitigation question: This means the buyer is seriously considering the purchase, but wants to be safe. An example, “Does this come with a warranty?”
• Knocking the competition: When a buyer badmouths your competition, the chances for a close are high, as long as you can prove you are different.
• Personal questions: If a buyer asks questions about your tenure with the company, your spouse, etc., it means they are trying to get comfortable with you enough to buy from you. If you succeed, then the chances of getting the sale are very high.
• Head tilts to one side
• Raises both eyebrows
• Rubs hands together
• Leans forward

Watch this video for even more on this topic:

We cover the buyer’s shift and how to recognize it in our training programs. To really improve your sales closing techniques or that of your salespeople, I suggest you invest in one of our comprehensive sales training programs. They can elevate the average into top performer status, and therefore pay for themselves in just a few closed deals which might have been impossible otherwise.

Contact us today for more information on our sales training programs.