Let’s get right to it in this week’s sales meeting and talk about closing the sale. To recap, in our four previous weeks, we have talked about how to properly locate a prospect and pre-qualify them as best as we can. We got a meeting with the decision maker, and we had the Client Needs Analysis (CNA) meeting where we asked a lot of good questions and got great answers, all the information we were looking for.
Next, we made a killer presentation. We focused on the needs of the client and the problems or issues they identified in the CNA meeting and are providing solutions that tie directly to those. We presented it that way as well, “Here are the problems you identified, here are the solutions that address those issues.” We also had audio and/or video of talent talking about the business and we made the client feel like they are going to own a piece of real estate on the station.
The truth is, if you’ve done the first four steps of the sales process really well, the close is the easiest part. The client should have seen the value in what you presented, and you’d hope they were so blown away by the time and effort you put into helping solve their business’ problems that they feel like they aren’t just investing in marketing their business, but that that also comes with your expertise as a big part of the ‘added value’.
Now, they don’t always go that way no matter how good of a job you do, so you have to be prepared as well to answer questions that now could come your way, or some objections. The good news it, you prepared for this and don’t have to get nervous if the client throws you off your game by getting down to business.
This is where body language and being able to read a person comes in handy. First off, we all know that questions and/or objections are buying signals. If they didn’t want it or couldn’t afford it, they would cut it off and figure out a way to end the meeting. Talking further about it means they’re absolutely interested.
However, if the person on the other side sees you squirm or start to crumble when they ask you to explain something further or says they don’t like a particular tactic in the presentation, you’ve lost. If they see that body language from you, and they are good at negotiating, they have you right where they want you.
If they see someone who is confident in their products, confident in the results the client should see based on their knowledge and history with other accounts, they become that much more confident in investing with you. Think about when you are in the position of buying something and the person you are working with buckles at the first question that didn’t follow the script.
I had a sales rep once who used the great negotiating method of dropping the price every time there was an objection. “The package is a total of $7,500 per month, what do you think?” she would say. If the client presented any objection whatsoever, her fallback was always to say something like, “What if I could do it for $6,000 a month?”
That is an extreme example, but I cannot tell you how many conversations I have had with sellers that go this same direction. It always just becomes about lowering the price instead of answering the objection(s) and, you know…SELLING! Dropping the price as an immediate response just shows the client you don’t believe in the value of what you’re selling.
A sales consultant once told a group of us, “How much money a company can spend on advertising is not your decision to make.” Read that again.
Too many times, salespeople want to believe they know the financial situation of a company and decide for them what they can and cannot afford. By doing this they potentially leave thousands of dollars on the table. Put together what will work for the client and price it accordingly. Let them tell you whether or not they can afford it. And if they can’t afford what you presented, don’t devalue your product by ‘dropping your pants’, present another opportunity that fits the price they can afford, so long as that price is enough for the campaign to work.
Getting back to closing the deal, you may have expected at some point for me to list off a bunch of closing techniques and ways to ask for the order, but here is what I will tell you instead. If you need some of those, look at RAB.com or throw it in your Google machine, there are literally hundreds of good ones out there. However, if you’re nervous about asking for the order and closing the sale, you might be in the wrong business. Just ask. The person you are asking happens to be human, too.
The worst-case scenario is they say, ‘No,’ which as we all know, is a heck of a lot better than a ‘Maybe.’
Be confident. You are what will sell the deal. And if all else fails, as a sales manager I once knew always said, “If you can’t make a sale, at least make a friend.”
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Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
