Consumers tend to change their minds and purchase decisions quickly, so entrepreneurs should keep up with them and constantly develop their sales strategies. A sales transaction is a fragile thing, where crossing too fine a line can fundamentally change the course of the process. However, with a quality sales strategy in place, your company can confidently move through a set algorithm and close as many deals as possible. In this article, we’ll highlight a few tips about closing the deal that will serve as the basis for your unique sales plan.
Discuss the process
Such an obvious, seemingly clear, and small matter, but brings great disorganization if this point is missed. Companies often have difficulties exactly at the last stage of closing a deal simply because the parties did not agree at the outset on how the negotiation process would be handled. Determine the rules to be followed throughout the deal, appoint a meeting facilitator, decide what issues you would like to discuss at what stage of the deal.
Tips for closing sales: establish a timeline and milestones
Determine when the short-term steps will be completed and also tentatively set a target date for when the entire deal will be completed. Also, be sure to provide and discuss what happens if one of the parties doesn’t invest in the deadline. Revisit your schedule; you may have to improve it.
Setting deadlines is a useful thing that can make both parties make concessions, look for compromises, and start thinking more creatively.
Try to apply the chip “shut-town”
The shut-down chip is called that because it blocks the way for your competitors, who might try to poach your deal partners to their side. So if you’re worried that competitors might try to steal your client, this method will benefit you. All you have to do is ask your partners for as little negotiating time as possible, such as one week, and talk intensely about all the benefits you can give to potential clients, in addition to monetary benefits.
Take a break
During a deal, both sides of the negotiation are under constant stress. So if you postpone the meeting for a couple of days and take a break, it will even help to close the deal faster. Taking a short break will help your team bring all the facts together: what you’ve been able to accomplish, and what you still have to get to. This fresh perspective will help you evaluate things soberly, and you can see if you should pursue the deal.
Involve a trusted third party
Sometimes, hiccups in the negotiation process begin because neither party is able or willing to voice the best offers they have. In such cases, you should bring in a third party, in whose presence, you will be able to make your point fully. At the same time, this third party will be able to analyze and voice whether you have any common ground where you could agree with each other. If not, you’re better off looking for other partners with more similar ideas about the deal.
Also, to breathe fresh life into a negotiation, you may just need to change the composition of the team you are working with on the negotiation. New employees can look at things from a new angle, without the personal antipathies that may have arisen in the process, and without the tension.