Many factors go into closing a deal. Here are ten tips for closing that are essential to any negotiation:
1. Be Genuine
Listen first to what your client has to say. Then make sure that throughout your conversations with them you are being genuine. Being overly pushy can turn clients off. Take the time to answer their questions, and thoughtfully position yourself and what you offer with confidence, but without being overbearing.
2. Be Mindful of What You Say
Remain articulate and professional always. You never want one moment of awkward conversation to ruin a potential close.
3. Figure out Who the Decision Maker Is
Ultimately, this is the person you want to cater your approach to, even if they aren’t the person you are meeting with. The true decision maker may have sent someone else on their behalf, but know that that person is relaying information back to them after chatting with you. The more you can align your approach to the decision maker’s needs and preferences, the better.
4. Establish a Timeframe
Giving a deadline or a sense of urgency will prompt your client to come to an agreement faster than they may have otherwise. But there’s a fine line between setting a deadline and rushing your client to the point of annoyance. Establish something about the deadline that would benefit them, such as offering a discount if the deal is closed by a certain time.
5. Figure out What the Client’s Objections May Be in Advance
Come prepared to the meeting with answers to how you plan to address those questions. Mapping out these areas of concern and your proposed solutions will give your client greater confidence in closing a deal.
6. Understand Your Competition
Your client is most likely weighing in other options in addition to your product and service. Understanding who your competition is, and what they have to offer, will allow you to share with your client what it is you do that no one else does.
7. But Don’t Bad Mouth Them Either
Talking negatively about your competition will instantly cause your client to raise eyebrows, and it will degrade your overall pitch. Show what you have to offer that your competition doesn’t as objectively as possible.
8. Clearly Outline the Value of Your Product or Service
How will your product or service be valuable to your potential client? Articulate why choosing you will allow them to get the most they can out of the budget that they have to spend.
9. Under Promise and Over Deliver
Important both at deal close and over the course of your entire working relationship, never promise to a client what you can’t guarantee. Instead, exceed their expectations by giving them more than what they had anticipated.
10. Always Have a Back-Up Plan
Only having one closing strategy prepared means that if a client rejects it, you’re finished. Have a couple different options in mind, so that if you get the sense that your first one isn’t working, you can quickly adopt another approach.
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