I’m doing a week on selling and communication.  Five days, five tips.  Put all of these to work and I guarantee you improved results for virtually any kind of selling. 

Closing a sale is all about understanding the customer’s decision-making process.

Where are your clients or customers when they get in touch with you? 

Are they happy with the product they have, but want to be reassured that they made the right decision? 

Or are they in the throes of the problem, uncertain of which way to go, looking for answers? 

Or have they already decided on a course of action, and are basically looking for you to take the order? 

Each of these states of mind requires very different handling; it’s axiomatic that you need to understand your customers clearly in order to be able to talk to them effectively. 

Customers in the first stages of decision-making just need help with framing the problem.  Less information is better.  Just give them a statistic, or a very brief verbal portrait of what the future might look like.  Do you realize that the 2011 version of the Fabulator uses half the energy of its predecessors? 

Customers deep in the problem want information – comparisons, data, detail.  This stage is where all that product or service knowledge you have is actually useful.  Don’t go to the point of eyes glazing over, but do satisfy the urge for information.  Both models will get the job done, but the Fabulator-B is smaller and quieter, not to mention faster operating. 

And clients who have already made up their mind will appreciate some visualizing of the benefits, but very little else.  They don’t want to be slowed down, so don’t make it hard for them to buy.  You’ve made a great choice.  The Fabulator Supreme will take care of all your issues and also make you a spectacular cup of morning coffee.  Now let’s get that paperwork out of the way. 

That’s why it’s so important to listen to your customers before you launch into any kind of explanation.  If you don’t know where they are, you can’t point them to where they should be going.