And in closing…

The subject of closing is sometimes an emotionally charged topic. For most people closing is not a natural activity. Closing is usually associated with conflict and most people try to avoid conflict. In this article, I hope to change your view a little on this topic and point you toward some resources to help you get better in this area. But first, let’s talk about why you need to develop this skill.

The obvious reason is to make more money but that’s not really the biggest reason, time freedom is. Anyone, even with poor skills, can make a lot of money if they are willing to talk to enough people. Dani often says that your lack of skill is overcome by the amount of effort you put in. In other words, a great closer who talks to 10 people may close five but a poor closer, who talks to 100 people and closes 10, still wins. But who has the time freedom and the lifestyle, the great closer.

Dani also preaches that you will need to talk to hundreds of people to get great at closing. So you first have to be willing to go through the process. Assuming that you are willing to hear a couple of hundred “no’s” on your way to a lot of “yes’s”, you don’t want to go about this blindly or without a plan. All of those “no’s” must serve the purpose of showing how you can improve to be of any value. They can also show you how you have improved as you start to get deeper into the process with each prospect.

With all that said, closing starts with the very first contact that you make with someone. How many of us have seen the ridiculous amateur try to spam your Facebook page with a lame ad about their deal? We all have, and we all just delete the post and ban that user. That person created an objection from the first second of his approach and some of us, maybe a little less obnoxiously, do the same thing. So, the first thing to do is to examine your approach, check your motives and always be asking yourself if you would respond positively to your approach.

Remember that the entire process from prospecting to presentation to closing to getting started to an independent distributor is a weeding out process. It is not your ability to “sell” that creates success it’s your ability to “sort”. As your skills improve your prospects will get deeper and deeper into your process and, along the way, you’ll find the diamonds. The more exposure they get while in your process the more chance they have of catching the vision that your company offers. If that vision provides a solution to your prospects needs, then you might have a diamond.

Your presentation is your biggest opportunity to screw it up. This is where an amateur will talk about what excites them and not what excites the prospect.  The first presentation should be short and sweet and provide a general overview without pushing too hard on any one thing. It should create interest not objections. If you have done a good job with F.O.R.M. you will have an idea of what needs your prospect has and you can show them how your opportunity fills their need.

Now, it’s finally time to close the sale! If you have approached them in a professional way, without pressure, and you did a good job showing them how your business offers them the solution they are looking for, they may already be “closed”.  Ask the closing question and see what they say. If they do give you an objection, handle it with a story and ask the closing question again. Usually, you will get no more than three “objections” so make sure you have a dozen, or so, good stories ready to go.

All objections eventually lead you to the real objection which is: fear. Primarily the fear of failing. Dani teaches a simple technique called Feel, Felt, Found. “I know how you feel, I felt the same way, what I found was…story.” This technique builds a bridge and creates a feeling of understanding in the prospect that maybe enough for them to be willing to give it a shot and get started in your business.

Now, just because they signed up, don’t get too excited. In fact, this is where the real work begins. You now have a responsibility to help that person succeed. Remember, that you are still closing them and you need to be ready to overcome objections for, at least, the next few months. The good news is that as you build a relationship with that person you will better understand how to help that person through their objections and into productivity.

You may remember Alec Baldwin, in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, talking about the ABC’s of closing: Always Be Closing. It’s true, you never stop closing and overcoming objections in our business.

Before we get to the resources I promised you I want to touch on what Dani calls the 93% non-verbal communication. This is such an important part of successful closing and it can be hard to master. But a couple of quick tips are: 1) Just be yourself, no one likes someone who is fake or inappropriately excited. 2) Draw on something that you are confident in and apply that to your business, for me it was sports. 3) SMILE while you are on the phone! Get a mirror, put it on your desk, and SMILE!

Ok, I hope this helps a little but we are just scratching the surface. Remember those couple of hundred “no’s” that you need to go get? Well, plug into the material that is available to you and be listening and applying the information as you see your skill develop. You will start noticing more people saying “yes” to taking a look. Then, more people saying “yes” after your presentation. Then more people getting started and going to work.  It’s a beautiful thing.

Brian

 

Resources:

Free bootcamp –  10 or more hours dedicated to this topic

PRO membership – 25 hours of detailed instruction in this area

Prospecting and Closing Your Way to Millions – 7 CD’s of gold!

Script books –

Script Book #1 has all of the prospecting scripts and a bunch of others.

Script Book #2 (supplemental) focuses on handling objections and taking control of a conversation.

Presentation System CD – How-to do a great presentation without creating objections

YouTube – How-to use Smarter Networker to overcome objections and save time.