Despite the best use of the many techniques we’ve discussed, failed sales will still be common reality in the life of any salesman, it’s why we talked about buoyancy so much. However, it’s still best to minimize wasted effort and time – time is money after all. This is where Sandler Rule #31 comes in, “Close the Sale, or Close the File.” All too often, salespeople allow themselves to be continually strung out with put offs and maybes. This is a critical pitfall that you have to avoid.
As a salesperson, you should always be pursuing these three questions:
- Is this a good fit for both of us?
- Is this person willing to work with me?
- Could my efforts be more productive somewhere else?
First of all, you want to ensure that the sale is a reasonable action for both parties, don’t try and sell something unneeded to the prospect, it can reflect badly on you and come back to bite you later. Don’t try and force a square peg into a round hole.
Second, you should do business with people that are willing to work well with you. A sales relationship isn’t a one time thing, it’s a long term relationship of respect between two parties – trying to force a sale to someone who doesn’t like you will inevitably make the process more difficult.
Third, always be careful of how much effort you are putting into a difficult prospect. If you spend tons of time on effort on a prospect who’s waffling, stalling, or clearly just doesn’t want to say “no”, but can’t say yes, you waste significant resources for no return. One way to help prevent this situation is to push for “No.” Instead of allowing a client to give uncertain answers, ask them if it’s time to end the relationship, give them a light push to say if they aren’t interested anymore. While this may seem counterintuitive, it often results in prospects swinging themselves back to yes, once they realize how close to the end of the relationship they were.
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This is a great post about a great rule! Knowing when to move on from prospects is a vital skill of a salesperson. You got to be able to close the sale or close up the prospect. Proposing the idea of “no” is a great way to help the client make the decision to continue or close up themselves.
I liked your take on this aspect of sales. I especially liked when you talked about how sales is a long term relationship that should be a good fit for both parties. Just because a client is giving you the time of day doesn’t mean the relationship is going to work out, and it’s important to make sure the relationship will be beneficial for both parties.