Sales Minute

Securing the Commitment

Sales professionals know that there are no "tricks" to closing the sale. In the consultative selling model, the sales professional is moving closer to the sale through each step of the sales process. In this selling strategy, there is no manipulating the client with "closing schemes" to get the account. Consultative sales professionals are true business partners who follow a sales process with detailed steps through which the client basically talks himself into buying a product or service as opposed to being sold something he does not think he needs. The true sales professional engages the client in a discussion about the client’s needs, not about the salesperson’s product or service.

Jeffrey Gitomer, author of Little Red Book of Selling, says it best: "Telling is Selling, Asking is Buying." He also says, "People do not like to be sold, but they love to buy." (If you haven’t read any of his books, please go and buy this one today!)

The only way for the client to agree to buy as opposed to being sold is to ask the right questions, which get you to talk less and to listen more. God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason. With the right "needs analysis," you can secure the commitment sometimes before you even make a proposal. And, no, it is not the lowest price that wins; it is the salesperson who sells the value best who wins! As salespeople, it is our job to "remove the risk" to our clients.

Where a sale can stall is when you give a client a customized document destruction proposal, but do not receive an immediate, "Yes," in return. What do you do next to keep the momentum moving forward? The reason that it is hard for most salespeople to secure commitments at this point is because most do not ask for them!

Here are some questions you can ask your prospects to secure the commitment and convert them into clients:

As security consultants, our job is to reduce a company’s risk to the implications of improper disposal of sensitive information. As sales professionals, our job is to "remove the risk" of becoming a client. Do not be afraid to ask your prospects to take the next step.

Ray Barry is the president of Total Training Services, which operates Shred School in Spartanburg, S.C. He has helped and trained more than 100 companies in the document destruction industry to grow their businesses. Ray can be contacted at raybarry@totaltrainingservices.com.