Close More Sales with These 5 Techniques

Sim Wan Yong • August 26, 2019

Even the best-built sales deck won't amount to anything if you use the wrong phrases to seal the closing deal.

The closing moment is crucial, and you will neither be the first nor the last salesperson to feel anxious when the moment to close sales arrive. Still, it is with this sense of apprehension that every salesperson will feel thrilled when they close a sale.

With the expectations for sales professionals to achieve and maintain a great sales record, quite a number of sales techniques have been developed in the past years, with these few below taking the lead.

5 Modern Sales Closing Techniques That Works and Why They're Successful

Soft Closing Method

If you prefer not to be too direct in your closing technique, try soft-closing. The keys to soft closing is to highlight the benefit of your products, and then ask a low-impact, non-commital question to see if your prospective clients would be interested to learn more.

Here's a few examples:
  • Would it align better with your company goals if I were to tell you that I can reduce your current Google Ads maintenance cost by 15% and increase the cost efficiency by about 20% at the same time?
  • If I told you that we can get your 15% more leads with higher quality and customer intent, would you be interested to learn more?
  • Would you be interested to know more if I told you that our Google Ads services can tackle those pain points you mentioned, while also maintaining your current marketing operation costs?
Questions as provided above clearly outline the benefits of signing up with your company without asking for any commitment. A question asking about the company goals also gives you a chance to learn more about your prospective clients' needs.

Assumption Closing

Whether you have left a client's meeting having provided them some new information or if you have learnt about their interests, you can advance towards closing your sale by assuming positive intent.

Here's a few examples:
  • Did the information and presentation provided above align with your expectations?
  • Did the presentation meet your expectations in terms of data & strategies provided?
  • Does the description of the service we provide sound like something that would be valuable to your business? Does it meet any needs or pain points?
When you start by assuming good intent from the start, you will bring a sense of authority and direct the sales process towards a close.

Sharp Angle Closing

Your prospects would often ask for further price deductions or complementary add-ons, because they know that they have the upper hand in determining whether you're going to get your sales or not. They would also know that you can expect them to do so. Try asking them something in return at this critical moment.

Here's a few examples for when your prospect asks, "Can you further reduce the management fee from 20% to 10%?
  • Definitely, but if I were to do that for you, would you sign the contract today?
  • Sure, I can even push your campaign towards the front of the queue with that, but would you proceed with our proposed budgets meanwhile?
  • If I can arrange that for you, would you transfer us the contract amount within this week for us to get started?
It's unlikely for your prospects to expect this response, because you agreed to their request and also because you proposed to close the contract on that day itself with your own conditions. If your sales manager has given you permission to try sharp angle closes, this could be worth a try.

Question Closing

As a sales representative, you'll have to ask some probing questions to develop desire in your clients, and eliminate objections for their purchase along the way. With the proper wording, you may also be able to address these objections while gaining their commitment!

Here's a few examples:
  • Do you think that what I'm offering will solve your problem?
  • In your opinion, does our offering fit the requirements you mentioned in our previous meeting?
  • Is there any potential reasons stopping you from proceeding with the strategy we proposed?
In the first and second question, you can find out whether your prospect is sold on your idea or not. If the answer is no, you can continue to sell and present your ideas. If the answer is a yes, then you're well on your way to signing a contract. The third one meanwhile, can also give you closure and information as to why your customers aren't fully convinced yet.

Take Away Closing

This strategy works just as well on kids as they do on adults. With children, you'll notice that the moment you take something from them, they will want it even more. This psychological approach applies to adults as well.

If your clients are rejecting your prices, you can remove certain features or services, and then present them the discounted offer again. There's a chance that your prospects will be focusing more on the removed parts than on the discounted price itself.

Here's a few examples:
  • I can reduce the campaign management from 30% to 15%, but with that we can only provide you the basic set-up and there will be only optimization or changes once a month. Is that okay for you?
  • We can give you the RM500 website package instead of the RM1000 package, but this would mean that we only provide you with a one-pager and free stock photos instead of the premium illustrations.
  • We can reduce the playbook price to RM10000, but we will be removing section 2 - 4 involving your target audiences and messaging tones. If this is okay for you, we will proceed.
By removing certain attractive add-ons or services, your prospect is likely to revert their decisions and decide to go with your direction instead.

One Size Does Not Fit All

While these are some techniques that we propose, it might not work for all cases or for different personalities. The best way to learn the selling and closing techniques for a salesperson would still involve a trusted mentor, leadership and plenty of practice.