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Not too long ago, a very close
artist friend posted a question on Facebook:
“Does anyone have any suggestions on how
to close a sale?” Apparently, she had
been experiencing some frustration with prospective
buyers “dancing” around the notion
buying her paintings—and not being able
to get them to cross the finish line, so to
speak.
It reminded me of a tip I
received not long before from a senior colleague
at Principal, as we were about to go into a
closing meeting with a business prospect: “There
may be a point when I place our solutions on
the table, and ask him to make a decision,”
Mel said. “There may be an awkward silence…”
“…In other words,”
I said, completing his thought, “At that
point, you want me to keep my mouth shut.”
“Uh……yeah,”
Mel replied, realizing that he did not have
to worry about hurting my feelings. He emphasized
that there comes a time when the information
is presented, the questions have (hopefully)
been answered, and there is only one step left
in the sales cycle: You ask. Then shut up.
For many of us, especially
when we are still building our own self confidence
(Could it be that we have not yet sold ourselves...?),
this silence that can occasionally follow is
unnerving. Many of us feel as though it is a
void that must be filled with our mouths moving,
still trying to “make the sale.”
That is where many of us can fall into the trap
of “buying it back.”
In his classic book, How
to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life,
author Michael LeBoeuf, Ph.D. “retells”
an experience from Samuel Clemens (aka Mark
Twain), who listened in awe to a preacher at
a mission gathering. Clemens was so inspired
by the speaker, he was ready to contribute five
dollars to the collection plate—up from
his usual one dollar donation.
However, the preacher continued
talking, apparently enjoying the sound of his
own voice. Clemens’ inspiration soon gave
way to frustration; when the collection plate
came by, he kept his five dollars, and instead
removed a dime!
What do we learn from this
story? Know when to let the silence do the talking,
so you don’t buy the sale back.
While “closing”
a sale is not something I tend to write or speak
about that often (largely because it is something
I am still learning to do myself), the truth
is as we advance a relationship (business or
personal), we are always “closing”
one step to get to the next. It is simply a
natural progression of things.
As the Philosopher says so
well in Ecclesiastes 3:7 (NIV), there is “…a
time to be silent and a time to speak.”
On that note, I think
it is time for me to shut up.
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