You’ve given a great presentation. You did an amazing job of laying out your value proposition. You backed up everything in your pitch with success stories. Now what? In this episode of Above the Noise, Luke Acree talks about the final stage of the process: assuming the close. This is how you take an impressed prospect and turn them into happy client.

Video Transcription

Guys we’re going through the series on cold calling and today I want to talk to you about assuming the close. Now when I look at my Sales Reps and I think early on in my sales career, the number one mistake I see is that we tend to have this belief, the mentality, that if we give this great presentation, this great pitch, you know lay out the value proposition of our product, how it solves the pains and needs of our prospect, then back it up with great success stories, that after we do all that, we can then look at the prospect and go “so what do you think?”, and expect the prospect at that point to be so enthralled that they just go “Oh my gosh, I gotta have this product, here’s my credit card, here’s my VISA, where do you want me to sign?” And I’m not saying that never happens, but the truth is guys nine times out of ten, to close the deal you’re gonna have to assume the close. Top producers know that prospects are super protective of their time, super protective of their money, and they have to guide the prospect on this journey, and assume the close every step of the way.

So here are two practical strategies to help you do that.

First strategy

The first one I call the either/or close. Now I use this close during my booking of appointments. I call businesses to try to go out there and present. So when I call a business owner and I lay out my value proposition and my success stories at that point I go to them and I say, “Mr. Johnson I know you guys usually meet on Tuesday’s at 9am, would Tuesday the 7th work better for you? Or Tuesday the 14th?” Notice how I’m not saying to Mr. Johnson can I come out, I’m assuming he’s gonna let me come out. I’m asking him what date would work better. The 7th or the 14th? Now there’s an industry that does this extremely well, it’s the restaurant industry. Think of McDonald’s. When you go up to purchase something at McDonald’s, they don’t ask you “do you want fries and a drink?” They ask “do you want medium or large?” They’re already assuming you want the fries and a drink, they just want to know what size. So the either/or close is a great way to help you assume the close.

Second strategy

The second one is the yes close. Some people call this the summary close, but what I tell salespeople is after you give your great presentation, you need to then get a yes answer out of that prospect to help you assume that close. So how do you get a yes answer? You need to reiterate to them the benefits that you bring to the table. So for me, I help businesses produce more referrals and get more repeat transactions out of their client database. So I would simply say “Mr. Johnson are you looking to increase your referrals and increase your repeat transactions this year out of your client database?” He of course is going to say “well yes Luke, that’s what I’m looking to do.” At this point I’ve set myself up to assume the close and I could say, “Great Mr. Johnson well let me get you set upwith your account. What do you want to use for the billing information? Is it going to be a VISA, MasterCard , we do take American Express, and Discover?” At this point I’ve got the ability to assume the close because I said to him here’s the benefits, do you want these benefits? And I know that’s what my products and services bring to the table so I now can assume the close.

So guys when you give your sales pitch, you need to assume the close. One of the key areas that sales people forget to assume the close is when they go and overcome objections. If you remember from a previous video I talked about how you need to acknowledge, you need to isolate, and you need to overcome that objection. But the truth is to be a top producer it doesn’t stop there. After you’ve done those three things, you need to assume the close. Don’t think for a second that you’re going to say something during your sales process that’s going to invoke so much emotion in that prospect that they’re just going to reach in and pull out their credit card or just grab the paper to sign on the dotted line. You need to guide them on this sales process and assume the close.

The takeaway

So practice these two strategies today. Take action guys.