Can you imagine calling a potential customer and improvising the sales process? We’re going to tell you something you already know: it doesn’t work.
Because psychology plays a key role in sales and you need to know your potential audience in detail to understand who they are, what they need and, therefore, which of your products or services interests them the most. And even more importantly: how to sell it to them.
And to do this, you’re going to have to show them all the benefits they will get, overcome their objections, and address their doubts.
It’s a complex process that can’t be improvised. That’s why sales techniques were developed; methods that allow you to plan this journey to achieve more closures.
And this is what we’re going to talk about today: about the different commercial sales techniques that exist and how to apply them to your business to close more sales.
Let’s get started.
5 Sales Closing Techniques or Methods [with examples]
Yes, we’re going to start at the end of the process. Because all effective sales methods must pay special attention to the last step: the sale’s closure.
And for that, they need to use effective sales closing techniques that culminate the work done throughout the previous process.
That’s why we dedicate the first part of this guide to this final phase: so you know where to direct your efforts during the sale.
What are sales closing techniques and how can you apply them to your business? Sales closing techniques are proven effective tactics that you can use at the end of the process to convert your prospects into customers.
We detail five of the most common ones, so you can decide which to apply to your business:
#1 Direct Closing
A technique to keep things simple. Straightforward and very effective, but it can be a bit abrupt for some customers.
If you decide to use it, you should ask your prospect a direct question before finalizing the purchase, implying that the decision is already made and the sale is a done deal.
One way to do this would be to directly ask where they want the product sent or when they would like to start using your service, for example.
For instance, imagine that your product is a warehouse management software and you’re finalizing the sales negotiation details during the demo. Asking the prospect, before getting a definitive yes, when they would like to start the implementation could be a way to apply the direct close technique.
If you’ve properly prepared them during the previous process, it’s very likely that you’ll close the sale.
#2 Unexpected Closing
Many of your prospects will try to get discounts or some other type of benefit. Don’t see this situation as a concession you have to make at a loss to not lose the customer.
On the contrary, use it to catch your customer off guard. The “secret” lies in accepting their proposal—if it’s reasonable, of course—in exchange for closing the sale right then and there.
The person responsible for purchasing your software wants a discount? No problem, but you have to close the deal that very day.
In reality, their decision was already made and they probably didn’t expect it to be so easy to get what they asked for. Your proposal comes across as an opportunity they can’t pass up.
#3 Tethered Sales Closing
The tethered technique works very well. Plus, it operates very simply, leading the prospect towards the sale through their own answers to your questions.
You simply have to ask them questions they can’t answer with a “no”. For example, sticking with the warehouse management software example, you could ask the logistics manager questions like “it’s hard to have detailed manual control of stock with all the daily ins and outs, right?”
The easiest outcome is that, after several yeses, they decide to buy your product. They can answer no, of course, but clearly that wouldn’t be true.
This would be a person who isn’t ready to buy; you won’t have closed the sale, but you’ll have saved time trying when the process was destined for failure.
#4 Withdrawal Closing
We never want something more than when it’s taken away from us, right? Well, your customer is no different.
This technique will also be useful in case your prospect asks you for a discount. Again, it’s about agreeing, but in exchange for removing some of the product or service features.
Again, imagine the case of the warehouse management software. You could accept their discount proposal in exchange for withdrawing the support service from your team, for example.
They’ll likely change their mind at that point and accept your first offer.
#5 Mistaken Closing
“Mistake” in quotation marks, because your intention in “making a mistake”
is for your customer to correct you and implicitly accept the sale.
We return to the previous example. Suppose your software offers two support options: one during office hours and another 24/7.
You know that the customer only needs support during the day, but if you ask a question like “so, we’re choosing the 24/7 support service, right?”, the most likely response is that they’ll correct you saying they only need it during office hours.
As always, the final decision is only up to the customer, but with techniques like these, it’s much easier to get a definitive yes to the purchase.
However, none of these will be of any use if you haven’t prepared your customer for it throughout the sales process.
How can you do this? In the next sections, we’ll tell you how to lead your customer to a successful close through the most suitable sales techniques.
What commercial or telephone sales techniques are best for my business?
Every business is unique, with different products or services and different types of customers. While many telephone or commercial sales techniques can be applied in various scenarios, here are some of the most effective techniques and the most suitable cases for applying them.
Consultative Selling
If you aim to create a long-term relationship with your customer, the consultative selling method will help you achieve this.
It involves understanding the customer’s problems and needs to assist them in the most effective way possible with the product or service that is most suitable for them.
This personalized attention not only solves their problems but also makes the customer feel valued by the company, making it a perfect sales technique for customer loyalty, both for individuals and businesses.
There are countless examples of consultative selling, but let’s revisit the example of the warehouse management software we already know.
Suppose the logistics manager contacts your company to discuss some doubts because their business has particularities that have already caused them some problems with warehouse management.
During a consultative selling process, you would listen to them and, based on your expertise in your product, evaluate if you can offer them a satisfactory solution and, in that case, with which of your product modalities.
This is a very effective sales technique, but don’t forget to follow all its steps to apply it successfully.
What are the stages of consultative selling?
Like all sales techniques, planning is key to closing the operation. These are the steps of consultative selling:
- Train your team on your products: Your salespeople must know in detail what they are selling. In the case of software, for example, in addition to its features, they should know everything about the technical issues related to its implementation.
- Research your potential customers: identify who they are, what they are like, what they need, and if possible, how they want it. Knowing everything about your different types of customers will help you understand them and offer them a more suitable and attractive solution.
- Ask and listen to your customer: and not to sell them already. That will come if you can really help them. Ask them everything you need to know to assess if you can offer them a solution and, in that case, which one is most suitable for them.
- Offer the best solution: after listening to the customer and studying the best option for their case – and having generated enough trust in them – it’s time to present your proposal and highlight its value over your competitors.
- Close the sale: but without forcing. Above all, do not pressure the customer because, in addition to making them uncomfortable, you will lose all the trust you have gained during the process.
- Take care of the customer after the sale: how is your product working for them? Are they satisfied? Do they need help? Consultative selling techniques go far beyond signing the contract. Take care of your customer, and they will turn to you when they need you again.
As you can see, trust is a key factor when establishing business relationships, especially those that extend over time.
Let’s now move on to another technique perfect for such relationships, although with greater involvement on the part of both the customer and the supplier.
Collaborative Selling
This sales technique goes beyond the advice of consultative selling: it involves teamwork between the customer and supplier to find the most suitable solution for the customer.
We are talking about tailor-made solutions for which the seller must deeply understand the details of their customer’s business. Only in this way can they adapt their product or service to their needs.
It’s about creating a long-term relationship in which the teams of both companies collaborate with each other. The goal is to find opportunities for improvement and jointly design action plans that allow them to be carried out.
Due to the high involvement of the provider in the client’s activity, collaborative selling is an excellent technique for selling customized products or services in B2B businesses.
For example: suppose that the logistics manager of a factory contacts your company in search of a technological solution that allows him to modernize the logistics of his warehouse.
During a collaborative sales process, you would study his case in depth and propose a tailor-made action plan based on your software to improve his logistics management.
It’s not a simple process and you will have to work together to identify problems and find the best solution for them, designing the most appropriate products and modifying aspects of the client’s company’s operation when necessary.
In collaborative selling, knowledge of the client is even deeper than in other cases. However, there are other methods that revolve precisely around that knowledge. Let’s talk about one of them next.
SPIN method
As you have already seen in the previous examples, sales are increasingly focused on the individual needs of the customer. Knowing him to detect the solution that best suits his particular case and to present it to him in the most attractive way possible.
The SPIN method is suitable for complex sales or for those in which the prospect turns to the seller for advice.
When applying the SPIN sales method, the seller finds out, through four types of questions to the prospect, what his situation is, what his problem is, what implications it has, and how the product or service can solve them.
S questions: Discovering the situation
The first thing the salesperson will do is determine the prospect’s situation.
Suppose the logistics manager from the previous example contacts your company to ask for information about your warehouse management software.
In this first round, you could ask him if he already uses a program for managing his warehouse and, if so, what it is or what features it has. This way you will know the point at which he is.
P questions: Detecting the problem
Once you know your prospect’s starting point, it’s time to detect his problems and, therefore, your opportunities.
Ask him more specific questions about the possible difficulties you think he may have in the situation he has described to you. Does he have problems reliably controlling his stock? Does he often have stockouts? How long does it take him to do inventory?
Find out what specific problems of his case you can solve with your product.
I questions: Digging into the implications
How serious is your potential client’s problem? With these questions, you will learn more details about the situation, but above all, you will make him aware of how much he needs to do something to change it.
These are questions aimed at highlighting the severity of the problem, but in a way that he himself verbalizes them.
If you ask him about the implications of the reliability of his inventory, for example, he himself will tell you that sometimes they can’t fulfill orders due to lack of stock they thought they had. Or that sometimes, their products end up expiring on their shelves due to poor planning in the rotation.
N questions: Showing the need
The last phase aims to have him also explain to you how your product would change the situation he has just described.
Ask him questions that highlight the benefits of your software for his current situation, such as “how would the program solve the problem of product expiration?” Or “what consequences would avoiding stockouts prevent?”
In summary: let him see the difference between his current situation and the situation he would like to be in. And, of course, how your product helps him achieve it.
Let’s now move on to the next method on our list, especially designed to extend that help to the customer over a longer period of time.
Sandler Method
The Sandler sales method is a non-invasive technique designed for long-term business relationships.
It seeks to create a relationship of trust between the two parties in which the seller is more focused on being interested in the customer’s needs than on achieving a sale at all costs.
To achieve this, the Sandler method follows seven steps distributed over three phases:
Phase #1. Creating the relationship with the prospect
During this first phase is when the basis of the relationship will be gestated. The goal is to generate trust in the prospect and to face the process calmly and without feeling pressured.
- First step: bond creation. Here, the important thing is to be honest, observe and ask some questions that allow you to know their basic needs.
- Second step: setting expectations. This is where how the relationship will work is outlined. The idea is for the prospect to perceive you as a person he can trust and who is there to help him.
Continuing with the software example: during this phase, the logistics manager and you would have your first encounter, and he would describe, in broad strokes, what his situation is and what problems he has with managing his warehouse.
If after listening to him you thought you could help him, you would propose looking for a solution to his problem after a second meeting to delve into his case. And you would explain how the sales process would work if you reached an agreement.
For example: “if you agree, we will set a second meeting to know exactly what is the best software solution for your case and if this would fit within your budget. If we both agree, I will make a tailored proposal with a fixed price and the conditions of the project”.
If the prospect accepts, you move on to the second phase: qualification.
Phase #2. Qualifying the prospect
It’s time to find out if both your prospect and you are interested in moving forward in your relationship. And you’re going to do it over the next three steps of the process:
- Third step: problem detection. You already know that your prospect has difficulties controlling stock, among other things. But to help him, you need to know more: what specific characteristics do his facilities have? What technological and human resources does he have to manage them? This way, you’ll find his weak points and you can propose a more effective solution.
- Fourth step: budget review. It’s not about presenting him with a fixed budget, but about knowing if he has enough resources to hire you. There is no point in proposing a solution that he cannot afford or is not willing to invest in. That’s why the budget is discussed at this stage and not when presenting the final project.
- Fifth step: decision. If the prospect meets the requirements to move forward, this is the time when both the customer’s conditions and yours are discussed.
This would be the phase in which you would meet with the logistics manager and visit his facilities to be able to present him a project that would adapt to them, you would propose an approximate cost and both of you would decide whether or not you are interested in designing a firm proposal and moving on to the closing phase.
Phase #3. Closing the sale
In the last phase of the method, your client and you will close the deal, although the idea is that your relationship goes much further.
- Sixth step: fulfillment. Detailed presentation of the project and budget details according to the conditions you established in the previous step. If the client agrees, there is only one last step after closing the deal.
- Seventh step: after-sales. As you already know, the customer journey does not end with the purchase, but with loyalty actions. Follow-up and subsequent assistance are the best way to achieve customer satisfaction and for them to recommend you to other people.
The Sandler method is neither quick nor easy, but it is very effective in creating lasting trust relationships.
On the other end, there are methods like the one explained below; one of the simplest and most widely used techniques of all times.
AIDA Method
Now let’s go with AIDA, a classic and effective sales method if there ever was one. What does the AIDA method have to be successful for over a hundred years as one of the most widely used?
It focuses on capturing the prospect’s attention from minute one and then worries about keeping them hooked and generating desire until leading them to purchase.
In addition, it’s a versatile method that can be used to sell both products and services to businesses and individuals.
Below we provide an example; for now, we tell you the phases of the AIDA method:
- Attention: nowadays, if you don’t get attention among all the market offers, it’s difficult for your potential customer to dedicate even a minute of their time to you. In this phase, you must get them to want to continue listening to you.
- Interest: maintain the attention you have achieved to generate interest in your product or service and start leading your prospect towards the sale. At this point, present its most notable or striking benefits.
- Desire: once your prospect is already interested in your product or service, show them all the details. But in such a way that they clearly perceive that what you offer is the perfect solution to their problem; this will generate in them the need to buy.
- Action: your prospect has already decided to buy. Make it easy for them and tell them how to do it. If it’s a telephone or face-to-face sale, it’s as simple as starting with the procedures, but in online shopping, it’s important to make it very clear to the potential customer what they have to do to buy: call, click on a button, write an email…
Now let’s go with the example we promised: how could you close the sale of your logistics software with the AIDA method?
We start from the base that you have done your homework and know what your customer’s problems are 😉
You could start by getting their attention by attacking their main pain point, asking them directly if they have problems with stockouts, overstock, or if they end up losing merchandise because they don’t have it under control.
You know the answer is yes and your prospect identifies with the problem you propose.
Generate interest then by showing the advantages of having a software that allows you to know in real time the stock of all your items: no more delays due to lack of product or space problems due to excess items.
Relate all those benefits with your software and give all the details on how the installation of your program will change their life.
Through barcode scanning, stock enters or leaves your inventory automatically and in real time, they can check the information at any time from anywhere and, in addition, it’s a very easy software to use and integrates seamlessly with the computer program of their company.
You can also explain the case of other customers who are already using it and how their situation has changed since they started using it.
Once you have generated enough desire in your product, you just have to make sure that when they decide to buy, they can do it as soon as possible and in a simple way. Point them in the right direction to avoid getting lost or distracted.
As you can see, the AIDA method is as simple as it is effective, but it’s not the only one with these characteristics. Next, we talk about another very fast commercial sales technique that gets straight to the point.
SNAP Method
If we tell you “flash sale,” you can already get an approximate idea of the concept. No endless presentations of your product or service.
Your prospect—like anyone in Western society—lives in information overload. Many times, their greatest difficulty is not finding a solution to their problem, but the excess information when choosing one option over another.
All options seem the same to them, they are tired of searching for information and tend to distrust the sales tactics of sellers.
The SNAP sales method is ideal for addressing a customer who knows their needs and wants to avoid long or complicated processes to satisfy them.
They need a solution NOW, and if you present yours in a simple way, without pressure and letting them think that they have made the purchase decision on their own, you have a good chance of closing the sale.
But, how is that done? By considering the four principles of the SNAP sales method:
- Make it easy for them. Your customer doesn’t have the time or desire to listen to a sales pitch. Give them just enough information to decide if what you offer is of interest or not. Don’t ramble and make sure to use a language they can understand.
- Clearly show your value proposition. That is: explain right away how you can help solve their problem. Propose it in a way that shows you understand their needs and desires; this will earn you points against your competition.
- Offer a solution suitable for them. Obvious, right? Put yourself in their shoes and think about what they need and how they want it. If you can’t help them, don’t waste their time; they won’t buy from you anyway.
- Generate urgency. Without rushing. It’s not about telling them that there are only 2 units of your product left, but about making them see that they should really consider this solution as a priority; something they need right now.
In this way, faced with such an excess of information and offerings, they are likely to opt for the simplest option for them: your product or service.
As we said at the beginning, there are sales techniques for all tastes and situations. However, even the simplest ones have their complexity, and a good knowledge of your customer and their attitude during each phase of the sales process is important in all of them.
Important and complicated, especially in telephone sales, where you can’t see their reactions face to face.
How can your call center agents know who is on the other end of the line and how that person is reacting throughout the sales process?
As often, the answer is in technology, and artificial intelligence is the perfect ally to help you increase your call center sales.
How does AI help sales teams increase their closing rate?
Information is power, and that’s exactly what Upbe gives you through conversational intelligence: all the necessary information about your customer and their attitude so that your agents can improve their sales rate.
How does it do it?
- By recording 100% of your call center’s calls. It records and transcribes them automatically so that this information can be used in real time and also in future conversations with your customer.
- Analyzing the context of each conversation to understand the customer’s history and the situation they are in when contacting them.
- Identifying your customer’s mood at all times, and conveying it to your agents in real time so they can adapt their speech, improve communication, and close more meetings and sales.
- Creating patterns based on your customers’ reactions to predict behaviors in future calls.
Upbe is the platform that allows you to know your customer and understand how they feel at any given moment. This way, you can anticipate their reactions and guide conversations more effectively towards a sale.
Request a free demo and see for yourself in your own call center how AI helps you increase your sales closure rate.
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