Bill M, a mentor during my training, told me a story that took place during his first sales job. While working on a significant opportunity, Bill entertained his prospect with golfing, dinner and presented to everyone who worked at the company. With the pressure on to make the sale, he would send over relevant information via snail mail to the prospect. After several months, the buyer looked at Bill and said, “Bill, I love playing golf, but are you ever going to ask me for the deal?” Bill was shocked. He was waiting for the client to make the first move. Even after hearing the story, I admit to making the same mistake with potential clients.
How do you know when to close? A close happens after exchanging pertinent information and establishing a value proposition with the needed ROI. Identifying these points are difficult for newer salespeople. You will see a newbie seller pitch the prospect to death waiting for the prospect to make the first move. Instead of waiting, the rep should ask for the deal. Creating a checklist is a simple way to help sellers recognize when they should be closing. A Ready to Close list is a set of high-level actions that should happen for an opportunity to close. The checklist tells the seller they collected enough information for them to move onto the close. This not an exhaustive list. Instead, it is the high-level points. An easy checklist would be things that include:
Ready To Close Checklist
Time frame is established
Budgets Identified and confirmed
Decision maker(s) identified
Handled objections satisfactory
Agreed to solution
Have end goal defined
