Ask

What is the most important part of any sale?

Is it offering the best price? No, anyone can sell by price and usually someone comes in with a lower price at some point. (This is an entirely separate topic for another post.)

Is it having the best product? No, that helps and you should always be marketing the best you can offer.

Is it promising the best customer service? No, you should be doing this no matter what. Always provide consistent good customer service and you will have customers for life.

Is it over promising and under delivering? Absolutely no, it should be the reverse, under promise and over deliver.

Is it body language? No, important, very important but not the answer for this post.

These are all important parts of the sales process however it isn’t the MOST important. So, what is the most important part then? The MOST important part of the sale is to ask. You must learn to ask for the sale. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Do you ask for the sale and do you ask firmly enough?

Many sales people suffer from using feeble, dreadful closes that do not actually ask for the order. They will wait for the prospect to take the initiative and ask for the sale, they will ask the prospect what they think or use some inducement with the hopes the prospect will initiate the sale.

Asking for the sale is being confident and bold. A few strong ask examples:

So Mr. Jones here is what we have to offer and here is what it would cost then place the order form in front of Mr. Jones and ask him to sign here. Very aggressive but the client needs you to be aggressive and help them make a decision some times.

One of my favorite is the ABC close (and no I am not talking about the acronym: Always Be Closing – although you should). Give your client three choices with the middle one being the one that aligns with their needs. You must do this with conviction and it can be a very successful ask for you.

Most people will want to put off making a decision. It is human nature. However, it is up to you to help them make that decision and you cannot do that if you do not properly ask them to make a decision.