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The Most Important Rule of Business
Discover a simple rule for massive success.

Just Do It!
If you want to turn your prospects into customers than you have to make the calls. Yes, you heard me, there is no free lunch, no way around it, if you want to be effective at sales then you have to Just Do It!

Are You Too Attached to the Sale?
When you're on the stage, as part of your commitment to the person making a decision, you provide valuable information. You give them the background they need. You make sure they're clear on the outcome and the transformation that will happen in their life if they say yes. And you even make them an Irresistible Offer that

How to close the sale
For many people just the thought of ‘asking for the business‘ or closing the sale, brings about paralyzing fear of rejection and feelings of being too pushy. So what happens? It gets avoided at all costs and that doesn't help anyone. The problem with letting fear get in the way is that sales drag on way to long and they often get lost as a result of not following-up. Remember if you don't ask, you don't get. Interestingly, it's very rare for someone to be annoyed with you for following-up, if they have been meaning to call you, you're doing them a favour by saving them time. If they haven't made a decision, that's OK just ask them when you should call them back (so your not bothering them unnecessarily in between).

How to Close More Sales!
You need to go through a series of "yeses" with your customers in business... to build trust and to prove that you are the expert...

How to Practice your Closing Sales Skills
Sales skills are not a list of hard and fast steps and rules. They are a natural progression of all your hard work, your knowledge and commitment to your business, yourself and your belief in your product. You already have sales skills and by practicing them you will become more confident and better at closing sales.

Your Brand Is Screaming!
In this economy your brand is screaming louder than it ever has before. Every thing you do, say, wear, even how and when you follow-up matters. If you want to grow your business, retain your clients, and increase referrals then you need to understand that every interaction with a prospect or client determines if they will go to the next step with you. Face it, the customer is in control of the buying cycle - when it closes, how it closes, and if you are the person with whom they close it. Understanding your customers have a choice and a voice, and adjusting your sales approach to exceed their expectations will ensure you succeed in this and any economy.

Listening Key To Closing Sales
If you want to close more sales calls, you need to be able to clearly know and understand why your prospects aren't buying from you. Consistent sales behaviors, asking great questions, tracking and measuring are the tools you need to put into place so you can "hear" what your prospects are saying.

The Only Qualifying Question You Really Need
Afraid of asking to many questions of your prospects? OK, then ask just this one question and let your prospects tell YOU how to sell them!

How to Handle the Price Objection
You'd be amazed by how many sales reps miss the golden opportunity to find out where their prospect is when they ask about the price. Here's how NOT to make the same mistake!

How to Hire Successful Sales Reps
Many business owners and sales managers ask me if I have a proven system or a way to identify and hire top sales reps. They have tried everything, they tell me. Well, here's what they are missing, and what you need to do to find and hire Good Sales Reps!

How to Listen like a Detective
Listening is the top skill of Top 20% sales producers. Here's how to develop it!

How To Overcome the Smokescreen Objection
Most of the objections you get as sales reps aren't real objections - they're smokescreens. That's why when you answer them, you get another, and another, and another. Want a better way? Read and apply the techniques in this article and you'll stay in control and close more business!

How To Qualify Warm Leads
The internet has changed the way leads come into a sales organization. The problem is that 80% of companies and sales reps still handle them the same old way. Here is the Right Way to qualify incoming leads.

How To Stay Firm On Price
Getting beaten up in today's economy on account of clients and prospects hammering you for a lower price? Here's how to stay firm on your price and still succeed!

Saving Gas and Selling More 5 Secrets of Top 20 Producers
Here are 5 things you can begin doing today to succeed as a sales rep when others are failing!

Should You Train Unmotivated Sales Reps?
I have been consulting with a lot of sales managers and business owners who need and want sales training, but they are concerned that the training might be wasted on some of their sales reps (sometimes as much as one-third of their team) because this portion of the reps are either resistant, or simply unmotivated. What should you do? This article will tell you!

Stop Managing the Pipeline, and Start Managing Your Sales Team.
While the sales pipeline is a vital part of the sales process, it is also where the most fundamental mistake is made, and this mistake costs companies millions (if not billions) of dollars every year. Learn what you can do to change this starting today!

The 3 Secrets of Instantly Establishing Interest
You have all heard that you have about 15 to 30 seconds to establish a connection or generate interest on a cold call, right? While some may say you have even less, the point we can all agreed on is that you don't have much time and whatever you say, it had better be good! This article will provide you with the most effective way of making that connection.

The 5 Elements of a Qualified Lead
People ask me all the time what I think makes up a qualified lead. It's simple, I tell them. There are five things that every Top 20% producer knows when he or she hangs up the phone with a prospect. Know these five things and chances are real good you're going to close this prospect. Leave one out -- or two out -- and chances are even better that you're never going to close this prospect. This article will not only tell you what these are, but they will tell you how to find them out!

The 5 Secrets of Motivating Your Sales Team
Motivation seems to be one of the toughest areas to get a handle on. Many managers tell me that some of their reps are already motivated and don't need their help in that area (usually the Top 20%), but that the majority seem to need constant motivating, mentoring, counseling, or out right babysitting. Sound familiar? This article will provide you with proven, fresh ideas on how to get the most from your sales team.

The Five Secrets To Writing Killer Prospecting Scripts
If you prospect sales by phone, then you know what's it's like to get blown off, screened out, or just flat turned down. It doesn't have to be that way!! Use these Five Proven Secrets to Writing Killer Prospecting Scripts and learn how to succeed like the Top 20%!

The Most Important Word In Sales
What would you say was the most important word in sales? Read on and you'll find out...

The Three ‘Real’ Secrets of Hiring Top Sales Reps
Finding, interviewing, hiring and training sales reps costs hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars. What's worse is that you never know who you're going to get. Assessment tests can be time consuming and expensive. Want an easier way? Use these three secrets and you'll easily increase your chances of finding and succeeding with Top Sales Reps!

How to Sell A Pencil - And Your Product Or Service
This is one of the most basic of interview questions for sales reps, and the answer reveals so much about your previous training, your understanding of the sales process, and ultimately about what kind of sales rep you are.

Leave Voicemail Messages That Get Returned!
Here are four sample voice mail messages you can start using today to separate yourself from the other 95% of voice mails that get ignored, deleted and never returned.

Getting Commitment Through Out the Buying Process
During any phase of the process, it's crucial that you continue to ask these kind of specific, direct questions. Here are a few that will always help you know where you stand - and what you need to do next.

Five Secrets to Exercising Authority
The problem is that most managers and other figures of authority - Directors, V.P.'s, and Business Owners -- have never been taught how to properly exercise authority and command respect as leaders. If you find yourself in this position, follow this proven, 5-step method for exercising authority. It will not only get results, but it will establish, or re-establish, your role as leader of your sales team or department.

How to Write Winning Emails
Follow these six email secrets the next time you write and send an email, and you'll be on your way to the kind of response you used to get - and the kind that will lead to more business.

5 Ways to Handle the "No Budget" Objection
Here are five proven ways of dealing with this objection that you can begin using today to break through your prospect's resistance and earn the right to present your product or service.

How to Build Relevant Rapport
If you want to truly connect to your prospect and build the kind of rapport that will actually influence and lead to a closed deal, then you need to learn how build what I call, "Relevant Rapport."

3 Ways to Improve Your Listening Skills
The most important thing you can do to begin making more sales is to start listening to your prospects. Once you do, you'll know exactly what to say - and what not to say - to get the sale. Here are three things you can begin doing today to become a better listener.

How To Successfully Handle Objections
Want an easier way to deal with the objections you get over and over again? Here's how to do it.

How to Use Layering Questions
Only the top sales reps use layering questions, and the reason they are so valuable is because they get your prospect to go a little deeper into an area of interest they have, or in an area of concern.

The Secret of Setting Successful Goals
So many people still ask me what the secret to successful goal setting is, so I thought I'd share with you one of the basic principles of goal setting. The most effective way to set goals is to start by using the SMART principles of goal setting.

Insurance Sales - How to Overcome the Top Three Objections
In this article you'll find three rebuttals to the most common objections you get when closing on your insurance products. Remember, take the time to reword or rework them to fit your specific services or selling style, but after you do the key is to use them.

The One Real Key to Your Success
The exciting thing about this principle is that as soon as you truly understand and begin using it constructively with belief and expectation, you can turn your life, circumstance, your income, health, or anything else completely around. This law can be summed up very simply: "Everything in your life is an exact duplication of your consciousness."

I Hope You Don't Open Your Calls This Way
Because you only have a few precious seconds to make a connection and establish interest, you'd better have a good opening prepared in advance. What can you do to separate yourself from all the other calls they get? Read on.

The 5 Secrets of Great Vacations
What I've also found is that there are guidelines and "best practices" to ensure that you get the most out of vacations and breaks. After years of perfecting vacation, I offer, "The 5 Secrets to Taking Great Vacations -- enjoy!

Your Economic Recovery Script
What's so interesting to me is that many of the sales reps and companies I speak with are still mired in the old, "bad news" and they seem intent on wallowing in it. "Ah, things are still slow out there, and we're just not doing anything until they get better," they tell me. Because attitude is everything in sales (and life!), let me ask you, the reader, this question: "Are you part of the problem or are you part of the solution?"

The Most Important Script You'll Ever Use
Now get ready because it actually doesn't have anything to do with the objections. Nope. Rather, it is the script of what you say to yourself over and over throughout the day.

The Key to Staying Motivated
We all know that getting a lot of no's can be discouraging, and we also know how successful we are when we're highly motivated - nothing can stop us! So what is the key to staying motivated?

The Five Secrets to Effective Time Management
Any one of these Keys will make you more productive, reduce your stress, and help you squeeze more out of your day. Use them and you'll get more done - and you'll feel better!

Four Scripts to Overcome the Price Objection
Once you've identified what is really hiding behind this objection, then you are ready to deal with it. And here is, word for word, what you need to say to overcome it.

3 Ways to Build Rapport In 30 Seconds
Here are three techniques you can begin using today to create ease, build rapport and get the person on the other end of the phone to trust you.

5 Ways to Have a Great 4th Quarter
One of the things you can begin doing right now to prepare to have a great 4th quarter is read and apply the ideas in this article. Use it as a check list to compare what you're doing - and what you're not doing - and then adjust your activities to cover as many of these crucial steps as possible.

A Simple Lesson From the NFL to Close More Business
In sales, too, you can become a better producer if you concentrate on the simple things and doing them better. Here are two things you can do starting today to increase your closing ratio and make more money.

Emails and Voice Mails Guaranteed to Work
The voicemail discussion during the meeting led to what was working for emails as well, and I think we all got some really valuable ideas on what gets the most responses. Here they are.

How To Deal With Red Flags
One of the biggest mistakes 80% of salespeople make when qualifying is to overlook or not react to obvious Red Flags prospects give during the initial call.

5 Things I Learned last year
Here are the 5 things I learned that contributed the most to what turned out to be my most profitable year in consulting yet.

One Sentence to Establish Immediate Rapport
Making that connection is the most important thing you can do to lower or eliminate initial resistance and give yourself a real chance to see if what you're offering is a fit for the person you're speaking with. Here is the one sentence you can use that will give you the best chance to make that connection.

How to Overcome the Fear of Cold Calling
Let's start at the beginning. The fear of cold calling, like all fears, is mostly in our heads. It starts with dread, builds to anxiety, and soon we're frozen with fear. The phone becomes a 200 pound weight, we find a million other things to do, and we pray for 5 o'clock. Sound familiar?

How to Overcome the "I Need to Think about it objection
Unfortunately, what many of you have found out is that your prospect actually is saying no - they're just saying it in a way that makes it difficult for you to handle it. Well that will end for you today. By using the scripts below, you'll see if your prospect really does need to think about it, or if he/she is blowing you off.

How To Overcome the "I'm Not Interested" Objection
Here's what to say to act like a Top 20% sales professional, and how to connect with and earn the right to present your product or service.

Three Things You Must Do To Succeed
Just remember, 80% of your competition won't do these things, but if you will, you will smoke them in sales. In fact, you will become a Top 20% producer, and I'll bet that will make your 2011 successful, won't it?

Four Ways to Handle the "I'm too busy" Brush Off
Now here's the thing: while this may be true, it doesn't necessarily mean they don't need or aren't interested in what you have to offer. Like all initial resistance statements, what you must do with this objection is to quickly control the situation, assess whether or not your prospect is or can be interested, and then find a way to quickly qualify them.

How to Avoid Getting Economy Related Objections
If you're still getting the "We're just not going to do anything until the economy (settles down or improves, or whatever...), when you are closing the sale and asking for the order, then I've got some good news and bad news for you.

Change Your Self Talk - Change Your Results
The problem is that most of our self-talk is negative. And even worse, we tend to believe our self-talk and that influences our performance - in a big way. For example, have you ever stopped to listen to your self-talk after you missed a sale?

The 4 Secrets of Leadership
If you are in a position of authority and wish to become an effective leader, then find ways of developing or strengthening these four characteristics in yourself. Remember, everyone is counting on you for guidance, and it is your ability to lead that will determine the ultimate result in your team or company.

5 Ways to Sound More Natural On the Phone
If what you sell for a living means you have to pick up the phone - either to set appointments, call prospects back, return calls to clients, etc., then you have to learn how to sound natural and how to avoid putting your prospects, gatekeepers, assistants, etc., on notice that you're trying to sell something.

Opening Statements: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
I've worked with, monitored and heard thousands of sales reps over the years, and I've heard it all - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Here, for your reading enjoyment and education, are my all time, Top 5 classic opening statements.

Three Ways To Qualify Interested Prospects
If you're in a selling situation where you get to call back leads that have expressed an interest in your product or service, then consider yourself lucky. Whether they come from traditional advertising sources or from the internet, inbound leads save you the time, effort - and often the terror! - of cold calling. While these leads are great to get they also present some challenges that many sales reps aren't prepared to handle.

Three Ways to Connect With Your Prospects
If you want to successfully connect with your prospect, and earn the precious few seconds it takes to establish rapport and generate some interest, then you must put yourself into the mind of your prospect and enter the conversation that's going on in their minds.

We Already Have More Business Than We Can Handle
Well, let's face it, nobody has TOO much of anything, especially business, and while 80% of your competition get blown off when they get this objection, the top 20% know what to say. After you read and adapt the three closes below, YOU'LL know what to say, too!

The 5 Secrets of Setting Short Term Goals
If you want to see your life change in just 3 to 6 months, then follow these 5 quick rules for setting short term goals. As you'll see, accomplishing just one short term goal can change your life beyond your wildest dreams!

Five Ways to Have Sizzling Summer Sales
The fact is, top 20% producers still find ways to make their quotas in summer, and they also find ways to set up the end of the year so they exceed their revenue goals, earn their bonuses and have a great holiday season. And you can, too.

How To Close A Sale
If you do these things right, it'll be easy and natural for you to ask for the order often. And when you start doing that, you'll finally know how to close a sale.

The Biggest Mistake Sales Managers Make
If I were to ask you what the most important thing a sales manager can do to drive business, what would your answer be? Hire the right reps to begin with? Properly train them? Keep them motivated? Help them close deals? I'm sure you thought of these and many others, but I wonder if you thought about the one activity I'm going to share with you today.

Don't "Follow Up" On Your Leads!
Ask yourself this question - when you call a prospect or client back to close a sale, do you open your call up with, "I'm just calling to follow up..."? If you're like most sales reps (80% or more), then I'll bet you do, and, if so, then you're making a big mistake because you are setting yourself up for rejection and you're allowing your prospect to put you off.

The Problem With Affirmations (And What To Do About It)
If you have given up on affirmations because they never worked for you, then revisit them today and develop ones that you can believe in.

How Find Out What's Stopping Your Prospect From Buying
The problem with 80% of sales reps is that they will chase and chase unqualified leads because it seems easier than cold calling and looking for real buyers. "At least they took the information, or have a need," they say. The solution? Read on.

The One Secret of All Top Sales Performers
If a car salesman like Joe Girard can achieve the kind of results he did by connecting with his clients personally each month, what do you think you could achieve using this same proven system in your own business?

5 Closing Questions You Must Be Asking
All of these questions are crucial to ask during the close, and after you read them I encourage you to put these into your closing scripts and outlines. They will give you the feedback you'll need (and don't get because you're not in front of your prospect) to close the sale. To get the most benefit from them, begin using them today.

Three Interviewing Mistakes - And How To Avoid Them
Over the years, I've looked at thousands of resumes and interviewed thousands of sales reps. In fact, right now, I'm recruiting for several companies, and I'm amazed by how sales reps keep making basic, horrible mistakes that often times immediately disqualify them for any chance at landing a position. Often times, these mistakes even prevent them from getting an interview!

How To Make Your Sales Manager Better
The problem with most sales managers that they don't sell. And the problem with that is how can they teach and manage something they aren't doing themselves (or worse, can't)?

Prospect Not Buying? Here Is What To Do...
I use this question all the time, and I'm never surprised by how a prospect will immediately reveal the truth as to what is holding them up and what is going to stop them from ultimately moving forward.

Straight Selling - The Quickest Path To The Top 20%
What's one of the biggest differences between the Top 20% and the bottom 80%? The bottom 80% are still using stale, phony techniques that don't work, and they are still trying to trick the gatekeepers and assistants as they try to get to the decision maker.

The 5-Step Method of Handling Objections
This is a Top 20% favorite and it works because you are not answering or dealing with objections, rather, you're qualifying and isolating first, then, once you've found out if it's a real objection or a smokescreen, you're dealing with it in the most efficient way possible.

Knowing Your Numbers, Tracking Your Success
Overall, knowing how your numbers equate to your actual results and success is what each Top 20% producer thoroughly understands. You should too. Why not start today?

The Most Important Button on Your Phone
Have you ever needed to ask directions? You know, you're traveling and trying to get to your hotel, or you're in a different part of the city looking for a restaurant and when you don't know the way, you stop and ask somebody, don't you? When you do and they start telling you, what do you do? You listen, don't you? The person who is speaking has the information you need to get where you need to go, and I'll bet you even listen actively.

Focus Speeds Up The Buying Cycle
What we focus on in life expands. Face it, life right now is busy, and with so much uncertainty and fear in our economic environment it is easy to get distracted. If you want to ease the stress in your life, take the edge off the anxiety and just bring the fun back into your everyday life, then learn to focus.

Upgrading Performance Closes More Sales: Lessons learned from 14 year old hockey players
Performing at your highest level is difficult to do over and over again. It’s not your talent that fluctuates. You may alter and upgrade your game plan and knowledge level, but at the end of the day true high-level performance seems to be driven by something other than talent alone. I believe winning at the highest level, closing the biggest or the most sales, is based on the energy you bring – with all other factors being reasonably similar.

Learning the ABCs of Successful Closing
Are you familiar with the salesperson´s maxim, "ABC - Always be Closing"? It´s good advice, because salespeople - telemarketers too - must be receptive to the customer´s buying signals and know how to respond appropriately. Closing means coming to agreement with your customer. You should gain agreement - close - periodically as your call progresses. This gets your customer in the habit of agreeing with you and demonstrates that both of you are on the same track.

C-Level Selling, 4 Steps for Closing Phone Inquiries
Turn 70% of incoming calls, Telesales and Call Center inquires into sales by establishing credibility and excitement within the first 30 seconds.

The New Sales Funnel – Makes Sales Fun, Easy and Effective
The economy is not the only thing that has changed, so has your relationship with your clients. If you want to attract new clients and expand existing relationships, then you need a new approach to selling and a new sales funnel.

Negotiation Walls: The 5 Steps To Break Through To A Eureka Solution
Negotiators sometimes spin in circles and hit walls. You are stuck and can’t see a way out. You want one thing and your prospect wants another...now what? Many people believe you continue working to finish your negotiation. In other words, you keep doing what you’ve been doing...and you often end up spinning in circles. To break free from your spins follow the 5-steps to a Eureka Solution.

Insights from a another sales effort in China
Forgetting Chinese are very different from ourselves, Americans attempt selling to Chinese as they do with other Americans. When they fail to succeed, they can only return home befuddled by what may have gone wrong. Here is a story about a real-life sales situation in China, one that I hope will give you more insights to add to your quiver.

How to create a Year End Sales Blitz
The end of the year is approaching rapidly and now is the time to end old habits and pull out all the necessary stops to close business right now!

Other closing sales Related Articles

How To Close 80% Of Your Prospects
Traditional sales methods and closing techniques don't work. Build valuable relationships by asking the right questions and watch your closing ratios soar.

Close More Sales with Joint Ventures
Closing more sales. This is a popular topic. We’ve come along way since the “hard sell” and the manipulative closing techniques and tricks that used to work so well, so long ago…

Strategic Alliances Boost Sales
Closing more sales. This is a popular topic. We’ve come along way since the “hard sell” and the manipulative closing techniques and tricks that used to work so well, so long ago…

Closing with Ease
Next to objections, closing is one of the most talked-about sales training topics among sales people and sales managers. Everyone wants to know how to close and how to speed up the buying process. Closing is easy when you have thoroughly appreciated each customer’s specific requirements and aligned the presentation of your solution accordingly.

Do You Always Have Trouble Closing Sales?
Do you sometimes feel like you always have trouble closing? Are you looking for the 'magical' closing question that will close every piece of business. Forget it! Focus at the beginning and closing will just fade away.

Attitude, Belief, and Confidence...the ABC's of Sales
I once believed that in sales, if I could just learn that one killer closing statement, that one closing technique that worked every time, all my troubles would be over. Unfortunately, that statement and that technique do not exist. Don’t get me wrong; there are proper techniques that are extremely helpful in the sales process. Proper sales skills cannot be discounted. However, the three areas that will outshine rusty or nonexistent skills are the ABC’s of sales; and the lesson I quickly learned was that there is a balancing act.

Top 20 Requirements - How Salespeople Can Be Better at Closing
While salespeople can get better at closing, closing is an outcome, and with the exception of real estate and banking, not really an event. When we evaluate sales forces and look at their ability to close, they may possess some of the strengths and skills that are part of the Sales Core Competency called Closing, but most of those attributes are used prior to, not during, closing time. The ability to close depends on the following 20 variables (in no particular order) that a salesperson brings to the table - or not:

Improve Your Return on Sales Effort Qualify Properly
The current vogue for focusing on closing has almost completely ignored the critical role qualification plays in managing the sales process and improving your chances of closing sales and more importantly stops you wasting your time with those companies that have no real intention of purchasing from you.

Close More Sales
As sales people, we would all like to close more business, more quickly, at higher margins. Unfortunately, we often do our closing activities at the final presentation and are met with put-offs or think-it-overs. If we find that we are running into stalls and objections after we’ve presented, we must recognize that we have laid inadequate ground work. In other words, it’s not the closing that is the problem. It is the opening and the process that followed.

Closing the Sale
Selling and closing are two different arts. I have been doing sales and closing workshops for almost 25 years teaching sales organizations how to be more effective at selling, negotiating and closing transactions. Many people confuse these two. Do you know the difference?

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