How to Follow up and Close a Deal

In case the sales appointment has been successful and the customer is found to be interested, closing the deal could be easy. Besides, eventually, you may understand that the customer is doubtful to ever affirm a deal.

Nevertheless, at times the customer is not sure or maybe doubtful about making a big order. This can be understood, as they might not have been familiar with your service or product before. In such a situation, using certain closing methods might help them make the right decision.

After the client has signed the order, it is an opportunity for you to establish that your words match with the actions. Offering unexpected and highly professional post-sales service can allow help establish a long-term bonding with the customers.

The following points will walk you through the steps needed to close and subsequently comply with the agreed sale.

1. Querying for the Business

You might consider it more fruitful to sell in a ‘consultative’ manner instead of pressure mechanisms, as it has now become a passee. This requires doing research and organizing your sales call for freezing the sale seamlessly.

Nevertheless, you still have to get the customer’s commitment. The right way to do this is to ask your customers politely for this.

a) Receiving the Order

Get ready to take the order any day, despite the fact you were not sure that the order will be made on the day of the appointment. Get the required documentation handy for taking the order.

Make sure that your paperwork has been drafted with the aid of a lawyer and clearly explain any non-standard conditions to the customer, along with the process of canceling the contract. Then ask the customer to sign the agreement and hand them a copy.

b) Identifying Buying Indications

The right time to look for inquiries will differ as per the kind of person you are approaching and the way the sales meeting has advanced. There are many obvious buying signals, like the customer nodding repeatedly in agreement, etc.

However, certain buying signals might be quite tough to identify and are mostly blurred. Therefore, it’s mandatory to be passionate about developing a bond with the customer, but never to get very excited and seem desperate.

The customer might not agree to buy, so get ready to sort out any issues in case they have objections to accepting a deal.

2. Tips to Close the Sale

At times it is essential to attempt various methods of convincing the client to buy from you. The causes for their early unwillingness may be due to many reasons like not sure about the product, or the fright of making the incorrect decision.

Under these circumstances, make it a point to reassure the customer that they are going in right hands and let me know the advantages they will get on signing up.

a) Closing Variance

In case asking for business straight forward isn’t working, you might try:

  • Offering them options – like, do you like to have the white or black one?
  • If they are signing – like, which day would be right to receive the delivery?

In any case, ensure you permit time for the buyer to accept the sale. In the occasion of delay after you have asked a final question, allow the potential customer to speak first.

When you realize that the customer will not be buying currently, you can extend help them return with a tweaked offer. This might be risky because there are probabilities of the cancellation once they leave your premises, thus do not forget to fix a day and time for the next meeting, mostly shortly after a few days.

You may conclude that the customer is not ready to buy and might not be a potential prospect. In such cases, courteously thank them and convince them to stay in touch.

3. Selling Negotiation

Even after getting the customer’s commitment for signing a deed, the last negotiation might be on the way to reach the final deal.

Keep in mind not to get happy from this achievement that you could manage to get a sale rather you would need to check if the sale is suitable for your profit margins or are you capable of delivering the products or services?

a) Cost Negotiation

It is exciting to arrive at a negotiation especially on the costing part of the agreement, as it is a must that every customer would like to negotiate and find a wiggle room.

Nevertheless, it is one of the factors which is hardly beneficial for you. If you have fixed the price realistically, bearing in mind the price of delivering and creating your service or product, reducing your price might:

  • Lead to an inappropriate profit margin
  • Create a possibility to decrease the price further
  • specify that it was high initially
  • impact your potential to deliver the required standard

If the customer affirms a reduction in price per unit, extend to offer them a discount centered on a big order.

b) Be Balanced

Whatsoever the negotiation result would be, stay assertive yet polite every time. Outline the advantages and the reason for it being worthwhile. Think about all sensible proposals but do not agree to an offer too quickly. In case the negotiations are not successful, frame the right point and the last offer to freeze it.  

c) Pursue the Sale

Once the negotiation is done and the customer has ordered, ensure that walk through the customer down the next steps. Do not forget to thank them for offering the opportunity to serve before proceeding. Substantiate what has is there in the agreement, along with delivery slot and date and also the payment methods.  

Note down all the required details in a letter or email. Refrain from using normal templates for the communication – you must be friendly as you have been in the meeting. So be friendly in email also.

Just do not forget to make frequent calls to inform them prior to the next step of processing till they get the delivery. Make sure they have got the right product as agreed upon and that too on time.  

4. Testimonial and Referrals

Making use of referrals can lessen the number of cold-callings and advertising you have to make, on the other hand, testimonials can aid you to transform more anticipations into orders.

a) Testimonials

You can request your current or old customers to offer you a give a written statement that you can use for new sales.

Just convince the customers it would not take much time, just a few minutes to write a testimonial. You can use only those testimonials which they are happy to give. Ensure that you request them to state on:

  • the reason they selected your services
  • the issues that were solved using your services
  • the type and quality of service they got

b) Referrals

These are also a great source of getting business and also offer an alternative reward. Talking about referrals after a sales meeting turns out to be unsuccessful as it might provide a new topic and ward off any awkward conclusion of the sales meeting.

Referrals must also be asked when you are:

  • attempting source leads
  • are at networking events
  • have finalized a sale deal
  • are interacting with a current client

You can use many ways to look for a referral. You can ask for an introduction or their contact information. Finally, you can also ask the contact to circulate your details, but it is the least effective way for generating more sales as nobody else can do the effort as you can for your business.

Synopsis

These are the most effective and impactful following up and closing of the sales you can follow to get the most out of these tips.

Mamta Sharma

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