Questions and Sales

• You should be constantly asking well thought out and pertinent questions that help close the sale all the way through the process. The most popular close that people use is the alternate choice; and whether you know it or not, you’ve had it used on you a million times, and you’ve used it a million times. “Well, let’s go to the movies. Do you want to go Saturday, or do you want to go Friday?” “Gee, I really like that outfit. Should I get it in brown, or should I get it in red?” You hear the alternate choice close being used all day long. The first question that a car salesman might ask you when you walk into the showroom is, “Would you like stick or would you like automatic?” The alternate-choice close rules all selling situations. It is so good because it helps the prospect make decisions, which all lead to buying from you. It creates a decision tree that the prospect can organize in his mind to go through all the options, small decisions and minor considerations involved in making the bid decision of buying now. So use the alternate choice whenever you can. Figure out how you’re going to do the alternate choice for your business. If you’re burning CDs or DVDs for a living, you could ask if you should pack them in the jewel case or the paper case. Use your alternate choice. It works great. Let’s look at another concept called “closing on the minor issues.” This is what building agreements is all about and this is an easy way to build to the “big yes”. If I were selling you widgets and I found out from you that you take 500 widgets a week, you like them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you prefer them packed in grease rather than packed in bubble wrap… by the time we get further down through our discussion, we’ve already agreed on every minor issue involved in the sale, and the only thing left to do for me is to hand the pen to you and say, “Let me have your approval. I’ll start you up next week.” Every sale has many minor issues that can be resolved leading to the sale. In self storage, there are many minor issues as well. Will the new renter need climate controlled? What sort of lock should your prospect choose? How will prospects get their belongings to the storage unit? Do they want to pay by check or credit card? Look for any minor issues involved in your product and service and figure out good ways to get agreement on each of them. Another classic close is called the puppy-dog close. I love it because I used to sell adult dogs and puppies. If I had a qualified prospect, and I knew they liked the breed I sold, I knew they had a good environment for the dog, and that they had a little dog sense about them and knew how to handle a dog, I would not ask for payment. I would give them a dog well suited for them, whether it’s a puppy or an older dog and say, “I’ll tell you what, take the dog home. If in two weeks it’s not working out, I’ll be glad to just take the dog back.” How many dogs do you think I took back again? Maybe one or two in a hundred. I had to take practically none of them back because I was careful about who I left the dog with and made sure the dog fit the situation. The puppy dog close is so popular, they’re doing it with cars now. How many of you have seen the overnight test-drive? That is the classic puppy-dog close. The salesman says, “Here. Here are the keys to the car. Bring it back tomorrow. If it doesn’t work out, no problem.” How many cars do you think they’re selling this way? A ton of them! Do the car dealerships do a lot of pre-qualifying before they let you take the car home? You bet they do. So if you can design a puppy-dog close with your products or service, do it! How many stores do a return policy that’s very simple? You can buy clothes at about any store, bring them home, wear them in front of the mirror, show them to your husband or wife, and if the clothes don’t work out you can take them back and get a full return on your purchase. It’s a wonderful puppy-dog close. Find out how the puppy dog works for your situation and create one that works for you. Another wonderful close is called the order-blank close. The theory behind the order-blank close is: if I’m filling out the order and getting all of your information… until you stop me we have a sale. Have you ever been on the phone where the first thing the phone rep said was, “Can I please have your name…and a phone number…and an address…”? And pretty soon they’ve got everything they need from you to write up the order, and the only thing left to do for them is to say, “Would you like to use Visa, Master, or Discover today?” The order-blank close works wonderfully in self storage. All you have to do is tell the person, “let me just get a little information from you”, and start filling out your lease forms or your reservation forms. Use the order blank close in your business. It is simply. It is low pressure. It is easy for your staff to master. I hope you find ways to apply all of these closes to your business. In order to learn what you need to know about each prospect and in order to be able to use any of these closes, you will need to gather good information. Good information is gathered with well phrased questions. Brought to you by: Self Storage Owner Looking for Storage? 14985 Old Hickory Blvd, Nashville, TN 37211 Please also visit our partners Self Storage Locations and their Self Storage Article Directory

Related Posts:

Closing notes- Sales Skills- Customer and culture- People do their own buying- Let the prospect do the selling- Sorry, I don’t handle that- The Other Third- Go for daylight…- can do!- More about Prospects

Tweet This Post

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

View admin’s Profile Subscribe via RSS