Book of the Week: Closing Techniques by Stephan Schiffman

Stephan Schiffman's Closing Techniques was the first book specifically on sales that I ever read. It was being clearanced out at a local bookstore and I thought I'd give it a shot. What a lucky find! This book contains fundamental concepts on treating your customers as people, not using gimmicks and tricks to get people to buy, and simplifying the sales process. It's a quick read (only about 100 pages), it's to the point, and it doesn't repeat itself. I highly recommend it for anyone just getting started in sales. It will make you look like a veteran.

Here are the ten key takeaways from Closing Techniques:

1. Tricks don't work. Schiffman denounces old school tactics such as listing out pros and cons and handing them a pen and a contract, saying, "You already have the contract in your hand, you might as well sign." According to Schiffman, these tricks only serve to insult the customers and signal that you are not looking out for their interests.
2. What matters in the portion of opportunities you can control. Schiffman proposes a rule of thirds. One-third of the opporunties you get are going to buy from you no matter what. They simply need what you have and they know it. End of story. Another third of your opportunities are not going to buy from you no matter what. What really counts is what you do with the remaining third. That's where you shine.
3. Closing should be a natural outgrowth of the sales process. Too often, sales people separate the "close" from the rest of the sales process, as if it's something entirely different. It isn't. It's just the way the sales process should end if you've done everything correctly throughout. "Closing the sale," says Schiffman, "is a natural outgrowth of your earlier work, not a separate conclusion you somehow impose upon your prospect.
4. The sales interchange is not a contest with the prospect. It's not a battle. It shouldn't be adversarial. Great sales people put themselves on the same side as the customer. They are helping the customers, not trying to outwit them.
5. Great sales people keep their eyes open for opportunities. Mediocre sales people wait for opportunities to fall into their laps. The good sales people are those who are always on the prowl, looking for people that may benefit from what they have to offer.
6. You have to believe in what you're selling. Conviction is key. "To begin with," says Schiffman, "you have to be utterly, completely convinced in your own heart that you can offer your prospect the best possible solution to his or her problem." If you don't believe, why should they?
7. Best way to close: simply ask the prospect what they think. Schiffman's close: "Mr. Prospect, I don't know about you but this program makes a lot of sense to me. I think your company would benefit a lot from working with us. What do you think?" The power of this approach is that, if the prospect says yes, you know it's because you've really built the necessary value to earn the sale. If the prospect says no, the objections that you need to overcome will be revealed.
8. Treat prospects as people, not the companies they represent. "Establish a relationship between two people," Schiffman says, "not two corporate entitites. Tell your prospect that you want the business, not that your company does." Whether business to business or business to consumer, it's always person to person.
9. Take leadership for your prospects. Not in the sense that you boss them around, but rather that you take responsbility for the outcomes of the interchange. The leader seizes opportunities for his prospects. The leader shows the propsect how to solve her problems. The leader isn't afraid to take control of the process and make things happen.
10. Closing isn't static; there are always new developments. Another misconception about closing is that it's the end of the interchange. More often than not, a relationship doesn't (or shouldn't) end with a single close. "Nothing is static," says Schiffman, "as long as there are active relationships, there is some opportunity for you to take the initiative, some next course to pursue. Sales is a continual process, a series of mutual advancements that is most efficient when it benefits both parties."