(Jump directly to the best sales closing questions section by clicking here)
If you are here, it means that you are a tele-caller and looking for a the sales closing questions guide that seal the deal.
And tell me most of the time prospects you talk to might react like Baburao?
Ever wondered why this happen?
Because of these 2 reasons –
- The calls that Baburao were receiving were useless to him.
- However, when Kabira calls at his home, Baburao not only pick up the phone but they hatch a plan and the whole movie happens!
The point is that-
agar aap customer ki fayde ki baat nahi kar rahe to wo aapse baat kyun karega?
If you don’t talk about his benefit he has no reason to continue talking to you?
Before we get into – uske fayde ki baat kaise karein, lets look at be biggest mistake that 99% of the tele – callers make consistently.
Here’s what almost all telesales pitches in India look like –
Caller: Am I speaking with Rahul
Rahul: Yes, who is this?
C: I am Amit from Anand Realtech Pvt. Ltd. Are you interested in buying real estate in Noida?
R: No!
C: Ok if you are ever looking for real estate, you can call me on this number…There are many problems with this script
It’s Robotic
You might disagree, that your calls are not robotic. And I hear you. You are making calls so it’s hard to agree that this script is robotic. But ask a friend who receives 4-5 calls like this…
The problem with such robotic, self-centered pitches is – you will instantly lose the interest of the buyer. Because he has heard this script so many times that the moment this pitch starts, his brain goes NO!
Even worse some tele-callers go on to give a complete monologue about their product, features, and benefits without giving the prospect a chance to talk.
It’s Repetitive
Since this is the exact pitch that almost all tele-callers use so the prospect hears it 5-10 times every day. And his brain has become accustomed to saying NO!
Instead of doing this – ask yourself what is key information that most prospects would like to know but don’t. For example: After confirming his name and basic interest in talking to you, you can go,
So Rahul, did you know that according to last 20 years data real estate investment get 25% to 50% higher returns compared to FD? Would you like to know why this happens?
This gives you the chance to intrigue the prospect and delivers value by telling him something important that he didn’t already know before. This presents you as an expert rather than a robotic telecaller
It’s presumptive
This pitch presumes that the prospect is absolutely ready with extra money lying around just waiting for YOUR call to make the purchase.
Successful sales conversations start with understanding the current situation of the prospect and seeing where and how you can add value…
Because unless he feels like buying from you will add huge value to him he won’t.
And in order to make him feel that you have to present yourself as an expert who knows something that he doesn’t!
Useless wastage of time
No matter who your target audience is your prospects will always be too busy for robotic sales calls.
The solution is simple.
- Don’t presume that it’s the right time to talk to the prospect. Instead, ask the right questions and gauge!
- Always have some valuable information to share.
It creates negative perceptions
The moment you give a robotic pitch like this one you downgrade yourself from a potential expert in his field to just another robotic sales caller.
It actively sabotages good prospects and big deals
Imagine the prospect you are talking to is actually interested in a big deal. He is not going to buy from a robotic tele-caller. And What you just did by starting with a robotic pitch is – you lost yourself a big deal.
How to make an Assumptive Close – A sample pitch
A seller receives an incoming call from the doctor showing his interest in buying stock. The seller who received his call shared some details and pitched one of the most profitable stocks. After an ongoing conversation, the half-hour passed, and the prospect suddenly asked how good is this stock for me.
The caller immediately seeks help from one of his seniors to carry forward this conversation and answer a customer query. Check out how this senior salesperson handles the call. He is known as Chris Marlin. He now knows the name and profession.
Chris - Hi Dr. Jacob, this is Chris Marlin over JT Marlin.
Dr. Jacob - Marlin?
Chris - Yes, JT Marlin, he is my father (sarcastically calls himself the son of a business owner.) My associate tells me you are interested in one of the stocks.
Dr. Jacob - Yes MSE(name of stock) sounds like I might be interested!
Chris - Might be? might be do not sell stock at the rate MSE is going. Dr. Jacob, we are talking about a very high volume here.
Dr. Jacob - Yeh, I still wanna say might be interested.
Chris - That's great Doctor. You want to miss yet another opportunity here and watch your colleagues getting rich during clinical trials, and you do not buy the share. Then, hang up the phone.
Dr. Jacob - Well hold on a second, I did not say that.
Chris - Doc, honestly, I don't have the time. This stock is blowing up right now. The whole firm is going nuts. Hold up, let me open up the door to my office. (opens the door, and people shout like hell, and the Doctor on his chair silently hears the loud noises through the phone).
See that doc, that's my floor. Now I have a million calls to make to a million other doctors who are already in the know. I cannot walk you through this right now. I am sorry!
Silence on both sides. The Doctor is now thinking.
Dr. Jacob - okay-okay, let us do this.
Chris - Now, since you are a new account, I cannot go higher than 2000 shares.
Doc - Two thousand, Are you nuts? That is way beyond what I was thinking. 2000 oh God!
(Thinking)
Listen, I am curious why not you sell me less than that?
Chris - Well, we like to establish with our clients something small before you go to the serious trades. Let me show you several percentages on this small trade then we will talk about future business.
Dr. Jacob - It's good! Give me two thousand shares.
Chris - Done
Dr. Jacob - Are you sure you can't do better than this one?
Chris - I am sorry Dr. Jacobs, I can't.
Dr. - Alright! We will start with this trade then.
Chris - Great! I promise we will swing to the fences for the next one.
Do you want the confirmation sent to your office or Mansion? (sarcasm again)
Dr. Jacob - Haha, very funny Mr. Marlin.
Chris - Let me put my secretary on, and she will take down your info. It's a pleasure doing business with you.Decrypting why this pitch works so well, and what you can learn from this
1. Be better by being different
Chris didn’t go please buy, instead, he pushed back when the doctor said might be. He knew that this is a profitable stock and that he is the expert, so instead of begging, he reversed by saying –
You want to miss yet another opportunity here and watch your colleagues getting rich during clinical trials, and you do not buy the share. Then, hang up the phone.
You might not be confident enough to induce FOMO like this but educate your customers on how you are different, consult them and help them through their challenges. Show insights and care for the prospect. Instead of just pitching benefits and sabotaging the deal as most salespeople do.
2. Get clients to` invest emotionally and logically
Chris goes
Hang up if you want to see your friends getting rich instead of you
And then he goes
Let me show you several percentages on this small trade then we will talk about future business.
In order to sell successfully with ease, you’ll have to get people to feel that they invest in your solution to get the best results. Change your positioning from nice to have our product to, you absolutely must have this product right now.
3. Handle objections early
Qualify your prospects. Know the kind of objections that your prospects are likely to have. And address them early. So that comes to talking closure there are no deadly, deal-breaking questions left. There are 3 simple ways to do this
- Let the client reveal his pain points – Gather more intel from your prospect, and understand his pain points. This will help you to convert the sales call into a closing call.
- Get him to tell you what needs to be done – Your sales pitch should sound like you are more interested in knowing their needs and solving problems with your products and services rather than just closing the deal.
- Work through his objections – Be prepared with answers. Without handling objections, you’ll never get to closure.
4. Ask questions and listen
He who speaks the least earns more.
Ryan Stewman
Listening is a large part of selling. The selling does not only include speaking on call, pitching, or explaining your products and services.
It is more about listening.
If you listen to the customer’s problems or questions and then answer those questions, it’ll get you better, bigger, easier closures.
Now that we have covered the basics, lets look at
12 sales closing questions that will seal the deal faster
Imagine you have your first face-to-face meeting
What are the things that you will say to convert your interaction into a successful deal?
Here are the 12 most powerful Assumptive Selling Question Examples you can use in meetings or on calls.
Before we jump to the assumptive close, there is one thing that you can ask from your prospect when meeting personally or on call.
1. Do you mind if we get started?
You: Hi Mr. Sharma, I want to be respectful of your time. So do you mind if we go ahead and get started?
Mr. Sharma: Sure, let’s get started.
This is not the common opening like – I hope you are doing well or how are you doing today? that all the prospects have learned to hate by default. Instead, it’s a slightly different way of telling the prospect that you value them and their time. By asking permission.
2. Where are you, and where do you want to go?
This question can help you a lot.
Every business, entrepreneur, or individual wants to and even plans to move forward in life.
To understand your prospects, it is necessary to have an impression of the current situation and prepare in advance for what they plan to do in the coming days.
Being a seller, you have to show them how your product is the bridge between what they are doing and what they want to do.
3. It looks like our services are a good fit for you, would you agree?
It’s simple but crucial. Saying something like this gives a chance to a prospect to say –
Yeah, I do.
If they say no, they will give you a reason as to why they think it’s not a good fit and that will tell you exactly what areas you need to work on to convince them.
4. We’d love to have the opportunity to earn your business today, but what’s stopping you?
If they say nothing, then you are all set for the final stage to complete the paperwork.
But if they say, I am actually looking for this and that.
You can respond with
Okay fantastic. I appreciate you for letting me know.
Now you have to demonstrate to your prospect that you have everything they need to satisfy their needs and concerns.
5. Is it something you would be comfortable with putting your trust in us to fulfil?
Asking this question may give you a chance to know the prospect’s intentions to do business with you.
If they say yes, it is good. You are ready to move things up.
But if they say, I am not sure, or it would not be great, then they don’t yet trust you and you need to put in some work to showcase your credibility and your genuine intentions of helping them solve their problem.
6. After considering everything, I think these two services are best for you. Which one would you like to go with?
It is like a presumptive call.
Instead of giving them an option to say
I do not want to go with you
You are asking which option you would like to choose.
This just makes it easier compared to asking – would you like to proceed? Because that question is almost guaranteed to bring up another doubt or concern that they have.
7. What else would our solution need to do for this deal to be a success?
It will help you to know the remaining doubts or confusions.
If there’s no problem, you are good to go to finalize the deal.
And if any, be spontaneous and solve them.
8. What could you see yourself investing to solve that challenge?
This question gets a hint of the prospect’s budget.
So you have the control to drive your call even if your product is more expensive than your budget. In which case you can just demonstrate how the product adds some more value and hence is worth the higher budget!
9. Have you ever purchased a product like ours?
You can ask your prospect to check the buying process.
Have they purchased a similar solution in past?
Was it worthy it?
This gives you a clear idea of their past experience with similar products or your competitors.
And if they do have a past experience with a similar product then when they explain it will give you hints, about what did not go well last time and what they expect differently this time.
10. Is there anything else that you need more clarification on?
This is an amazing way to break awkward pauses.
The client will ideally respond with nothing. This means you are all set to close the sale and conclude the meeting.
11. What do you need from me to start the onboarding process?
This is a subtle way of pushing for closure.
This gives you a chance to find and address any remaining doubts.
12. Should I send you the paperwork straight away?
There are multiple benefits to asking this question
- You can know exactly how confident the prospect is.
- If he has any major concerns before he can proceed, he will immediately voice them after this question.
Final Thoughts
The company’s revenue majorly depends upon the skills of the sales team.
The most vital skill a salesperson can master is being skilled at sales closing.
Being a skilled closer allows the product and service to assist others in solving their problems.
In today’s times, you will have to move past the outdated and ineffective strategies and understand what it means to close like a leader.
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process, is its own reward.
Amelia Earhart