Closing the deal is the hardest part of any sales strategy. It’s one thing to draw customers in, to have what seem to be fruitful sales conversations, but sometimes you just can’t stick the landing. Even when everything seems to be going well, the prospective client just never ends up actually making a purchase or signing the contract. It can be frustrating to have to start over, but confusing if you feel that everything was going well up until that point.
So why are you struggling to close the deal? Here are a few possibilities:
#1 – You Haven’t Built Up Enough Trust
Trust is essential to finalizing the sale. It goes far beyond telling the potential customer how great your product or service is. In fact, if you spend too much time trying to sell them something without building that trust, they might actually be wary of you. The most successful salespeople are those who are trusted by their customers. Position yourself as an advisor. Take an interest in your prospective clients and what they’re trying to achieve. Consider sharing success stories. Once that trust is established, you’ll be much more likely to close the deal.
#2 – You Struggled With Winning Over the Senior Executives
If you work in B2B sales, you’re probably familiar with the hierarchy. You start by talking to human resources managers, office managers, or someone at the mid-level of the company structure. And you might have an easy enough time convincing them of your product, but their higher ups are another matter. It’s the senior executives who shell out the money for new products or services, so it’s the senior executives who get the final say. You have to be ready to emphasize the benefit to the bottom line and to do some research on how senior executives think and prioritize.
#3 – You Failed To Personalize Your Sales Benefits
Before you begin the sales discussion with one particular lead, you probably have a generic sales pitch. You know why your product or service matters and how it can help on a general level. But as you begin to discuss with one prospective client, you need to understand how your offerings can help them in particular. Don’t just give them the party line. Really listen to them and what their needs are. Then explain how your product or service can help them personally, or help their business if you’re dealing with a B2B client. If you can make your pitch more specific, you’re likely to meet more success.
#4 – You’re Too Focused On Your Side of Things
It’s great to know all of the wonderful selling points about your company, your products, and your services. You need that knowledge and ease of communicating it in order to succeed as a sales representative. That being said, you never want to focus too much on yourself. Instead, make sure you’re asking the prospective client questions. Learn about them, respond to their concerns. Try to get out of the mindset of your company for a moment and place yourself in their shoes. What do they need? What might be holding them back? If you’re less self-centered, you’ll be more easily able to know how to sell the product to them.
#5 – You Rely Too Much on a Hard Close
Too many sales representatives try to essentially threaten prospective customers into closing the deal now. They might say “we only have this offer today” or “we need an answer now.” The goal of this is to make the prospective client fearful of what they’re missing out on so they say yes. The problem is most people don’t respond well to threats. If they feel badgered into making the purchase, they’re just as likely to leave.
What you want to do instead is sweeten the deal. Maybe say something like “if you decide today, we’ll throw in a special discount” or some added benefit. This is considered a soft close. It extends an extra offer that makes the purchase hard to resist, but it doesn’t make the customer feel that they’re being bullied into saying yes.
#6 – You’re Focusing On the Wrong Audience
Sometimes it feels as though you’re doing everything right sales wise. You’ve perfected your strategy, you know you’re doing your best, and yet the sales numbers simply aren’t reflecting that. If that’s the case, it might be a problem of your audience. You may simply be targeting an audience that isn’t interested in your product. Instead, do some marketing research to see who would be interested in your product. Change your sales tactic to approach that group. Once you find the right audience, you’re more likely to see the sales start to come in.
