Sales people have been trained from day one to ask closing questions. The ABCs of sales: Always Be Closing. That’s led to us feeling like we need to close from the very first step. After all, when we give our report back to management, they’re going to ask us questions that we need to know. So we end our meetings with these inquiries: “What do you think?” “Is there any reason you wouldn’t move forward with us?” “How do we stack up against our competitors?” If we receive answers to these questions and report on them in our next meeting with our sales manager, we look like closers – and there’s not a better compliment in the world of selling, is there? Well, asking these types of questions is one of the worst ways to end an introductory meeting. To learn why and what you should do, read more…
After you’ve done a bang-up job getting your prospect excited about working with you, agree on your action items and get out of there. Leaving an impression is the most important factor of the introductory meeting. Your prospect needs to view you as competent, in demand, and confident. All you’re closing right now is the next step in the relationship. If you begin to ask questions like the ones referenced above, you’re going to appear typical, desperate, and a little annoying.
Don’t get me wrong, closing questions are important and delivering them in an easy tone is a differentiator between average and great sales people. However, you don’t need to know these answers at this stage – all they do is validate your curiosity. You need to leave the prospect wanting more. They need to think “Wow, they blow away our current vendor. I hope she has time to visit us again – I’m sure she is slammed.”
Leave that impression in the introductory meeting and the closing questions later in the process will be cake.
