One Killer Sales Closing Technique My Colleagues and I used to Close More Sales

by on Jul 11, 2015
sales closing

There’s no dearth of closing techniques that sales personnel can use to close sales. There’s also plenty of debate and discussion around which ones work versus which ones don’t.

The alternative close..

This is from the time that I had worked with Lotus Learning, the Indian distributor for Linguaphone self-study language courses.  The alternative closing technique was the one most recommended by our market leaders.

The alternative technique in sales closing involves rhetorically asking the prospect to choose from two options, either of which results in a sale. For example, we’d ask “so would you like to get started today or tomorrow?”  or  “would you like to register this on your son’s name or your daughter’s name?” and so forth.

It had worked for us..

It had helped me close sales, achieve targets, win incentives, awards and rewards week after week. I had earned incentives such as gold ornaments, gift vouchers in top fashion stores, all expenses paid travel to participate in conferences in top hotels, etc. All this was over and above the incredible xx% commission in sales.

After learning about the alternative closing technique and successfully implementing it myself, I in turn, strongly recommended it to the new hires that I had trained week after week and it worked for them just as miraculously as it had worked for me, though it was the first sales job for them as it was for me and none of us had any prior sales experience. Miraculously enough.

Am I kidding..

No. It was not that we would just barge into a prospect, quickly rush them through the presentation and hurriedly use the alternative close to demand,

“Mr. Prospect, would you like to pay cash or check…come on, hurry up, let’s close this real quick as I have another prospect waiting.”

And then the prospect reaches out their wallet and says, “okay….here….I’ll pay cash.” Then we go and submit the order, get our xx% cut and the exciting incentives of the week.  And then similarly we get more people to sign up, achieve our targets and qualify for the regional/national achievement conferences, win awards and rewards.

Okay, here’s the complete story..

  1. For starters, my colleagues and I were successful sellers mainly because  “sell” was a word we never used.
  2. We were not called “Sales Representatives”.  We were called “Language Counselors” (later on the title was changed to “Language Consultant”).
  3. We were not “selling”, we were on a mission.  Our mission was to help people learn languages, specifically English, so that they can have better careers and better lives.

Over a two-day training program, I and my two other trainer colleagues used to first set the tone and develop this helping mindset into new hires, even before training them on products, lead-generation,  getting appointments, presentation and closing techniques. With that non-selling mindset coupled with the business techniques, the new hires who never had any prior sales experience went to market and typically closed their first sale within three days of completing the training. Many of them did it on the same evening, actually.

How we approached our prospect to get an appointment, how we presented ourselves, how we told them our story, how we modulated our tone, how we used diction, how we used body language, how we worked with prospects to analyze their concerns and counsel them on the solutions – all of that was fundamentally guided by that ‘helping’ mindset and driven by that ‘helping’ spirit.   

It is after already building a strong relationship and  a deep sense of trust and respect that we asked  alternative closing questions in a humble tone, “So, would you like to have this delivered to your home address or to your office address?”

If you want to sell more, stop selling.

We were there to help and not to sell. That is the miracle closing technique that helped us close more sales. When you are predisposed to help, your prospects relate to you instantly. Build on that relation further through the conversation and you will have the prospect on your side much before the actual closing. They would have mentally purchased your product already and the closing at the end of the presentation is just a formality. Just as in a romantic relation, when the sparks have already flown and the chemistry is already there, then saying, “I love you” is just a formality.

Closing a sale is  not a finishing touch to be given at the end, it is a foundation to be laid at the beginning. It is a gradual process that commences right when you contact the prospect for the first time, make a great impact and then work on it further.

The “alternative closing  technique” was our favorite for some reason, at least in the Hyderabad office. But with the kind of confidence that our prospects had in us  by the time we reached the closing point,  any other technique would have worked just as fine.

From my memorabilia..

Here’s a picture of some ethnic 24-carat gold kadas that I had won as incentive for achieving the month’s sales targets.

This one is a shot from the company’s four- day  Indian Achievement Conference at Hotel Rajputana Palace, Jaipur.  We were there because we had achieved incredible sales targets. It was a Rajasthani theme night, and we were having fun dressed in ethnic Rajasthani attire (me at the center in black and red).

Another shot from the same evening, me between Mina Krishnan and Mohan Krishnan, founders of Lotus Learning, outstanding leaders!