Close With Confidence

It's hard to know the perfect moment to initiate the close ... if only you were a mind reader, right? In the new book of sales advice, Top Dog Sales Secrets, sales expert Linda Richardson gives you the next best thing to mind reading powers -- advice on how to close the sale confidently.

Perhaps the biggest reason salespeople are hesitant to close is that they are anxious about facing rejection, or shutting down communications. This typically happens when they haven't elicited enough feedback or signals from the client to know if it's safe to close. Most often, they haven't received these closing signals because they haven't asked for them during the call.

Checking is the process of asking for feedback throughout the call. For example, after positioning your message, responding to an objection, or answering a question, ask, "How does that sound?" or "How would that work?" or "What do you think about ...?" Asking for feedback on what you've just said provides critical information, and increases your confidence either to ask for the business, or proceed to the next step. When you fail to check for feedback, asking at the end of the call becomes an all-or-nothing situation.

This nugget of sales wisdom was excerpted from Top Dog Sales Secrets, a collection of sales advice of 50 top experts edited by Michael Dalton Johnson. To get your copy plus $2,500 worth of FREE BONUS GIFTS when you buy today, click here.

Rate Your People Skills

Sales trainer John Boe has an uncanny ability to read people - their behavior and temperament style. He can analyze an individual based on a picture, brief phone conversation, or face-to-face meeting. SalesDog's Managing Editor, Tina LoSasso, can attest to this. After two minutes on the phone, John pegged her as an "introvert germophobe with neurotic tendencies." Considering that most people assume (incorrectly) that she's extroverted, she was impressed, and forgave him for the 'neurotic' part.

John teaches salespeople how to be more persuasive by deciphering their prospects' body language.

"Your body language reveals your deepest feelings and hidden thoughts to total strangers. As a professional salesperson you must continuously monitor your customer's body language and adjust your presentation style accordingly," says Boe. "By understanding your prospect's temperament style and body language gestures, you'll minimize perceived sales pressure and close more sales in less time!"

Think you have great people skills? Rate yourself by taking John Boe's fun People Skills Quiz.