Closing, closing, closing. It is what I hear from managers all the time. They all want to know if the salesperson is a good closer. Well I believe that the actual close of the sale is a very small part of the whole picture.
Before we can talk about closing sales we need to know what closing is. What is a close? I pose that question to all my new trainees and I get a multitude of answers. Some good, some not so good. "It's when the customer signs the contract." "It's when the manager and the customer agree on a price." "It's when the customer drives off the lot." "It's when the customer agrees to buy the vehicle." While all these are indications that a sale has if fact been closed, it's really not the story.
The definition of a close is "a question or statement that demands response." That's it! That's what we are trying to do. Say something that will get the customer to make a decision on something, on anything. For example when I say to the customer, "Do you want a light or dark color?" And then customer says, "light," I have closed him on the color, haven't I? All we are trying to do from the time we meet and greet a customer until the time he drives off the lot is get him to make decisions, choices that can help us help him get the vehicle that best fits his needs. This is why I say that the road to a sale is 90% selling and 10% closing. Because, and this is going to sound a bit contradictory, we are in actuality are closing all the time.
Qualifying questions are really nothing more than closing questions, aren't they? "Were you looking for a two door or four? Automatic or manual? Were you looking for performance or economy?" These are all just qualifying questions but each one closes the sale a little bit. When your salesperson finally has the customer in their office and says, "Now Mr. Jones, did you want your payments to start on the 15th or the 30th?", it is a close, but a close that was made possible by all the little closes along the way. The better a salesperson does those little things along the way, the easier it is to get commitment in the office.
There are books like "One Thousand and One Closes" that teach closing skills, and while these are all valid in one selling situation or another, most are quite generic. I would like to share with you three closing techniques that are very specific to our industry.
The Alternate Of Choice Close. As you may have noticed in past articles I use this technique a lot, especially during qualifying. It gives the customer the opportunity to answer in a positive manner every time. Light or dark color? The customer says "Light." We've closed him on the color in a positive way. It opens the door to lots of light colored cars, doesn't it? If we say, "What color do you want?" and he says, "blue," and you don't have a blue one, you're out of luck. Alternate of choice is very effective. "Are you going to be titling this vehicle in your name or your companies?"
The Assumptive Close. As most of you have seen in my articles and in my training book, I am always in an assumptive mode. If the customer nods their head or follows me or in some cases doesn't say anything, I always assume that I am doing fine and should move forward. Your salespeople should always be moving forward. When you look at the assumptive close in its purest context, the salesperson would take the customer from the demo drive and re-presentation right into their office and start writing the contract. They would continue to write until the customer stopped them or they got to the list price of the vehicle. If the customer has not stopped them, the salesperson should just spin the contract around and tell the customer to sign it. It's not easy and I don't think a salesperson who's been on the job a week can pull it off but as they gain experience and confidence they will. The main thing to remember about the assumptive close is to always be moving forward and never stop until the customer tells them to.
The Direct Close. I have watched many salespeople struggle to close sales when in some instances they could have simply asked the customer to buy the car. The salespeople are so worried and wrapped up in doing the right things and not coming off as pushy that they talk past the close. Sometimes the best way to get a customer to buy a car is to ask. I use this close when I have been working for a while and I can't get commitment. "Mr. Jones, it's 100 degrees outside, we've been working together for three hours. Now you're going to go down the street and start this whole process over again? And for what? To save $50? Your time is too valuable, just buy the car. I'll get you into the business office and you'll be driving it in an hour." And the salesperson spins the contract around. It is that simple.
Closing is easy if a salesperson is always doing it. Remember your ABC's. Always be closing, always be getting the customer's head going up and down, and before you know it, they'll be saying, "Yeah, we'd like our payments to start on the 15th." Next month I will share a few more specific and effective closing techniques.
Good Luck and Good Selling.