You have worked hard to get your foot in the door, tell customers what your product can do for them, and respond to any objections they might have. Now it’s time to seal the deal. Or is it? A good salesperson needs to know when it’s time to close and how to go about doing it.
Misidentifying the moment to close can carry numerous problems with it, not least the fact that a customer with extra thinking time can very easily suddenly decide that they are not so interested after all, and a customer who is pressed to complete the deal too early can be left with a negative impression of the salesperson – one which may be impossible to conquer.
The point at which it is advisable to close on a deal will be fairly obvious to any experienced salesperson. The moment will become apparent, usually after you have gone through a typical sales pitch, responded to the potential customer’s objections and talked them around, and they have begun to give a positive impression with regards to buying – whether they do this verbally or through their body language and non-verbal comportment.
At this point, you should begin to speak as though they are going to buy, while not talking as though they have already bought the product or service.
