There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of different sales closes. They all work. At least they all work at one time or another. Obviously, when closing you do everything you can to create urgency. You use all the honest tools you can muster and all the options your company provides. You use your favorite assumptive closes, forced choices, whatever you like.

But closing isn’t some magical spell requiring just the right incantation. One of my most successful final closes is the simple phrase, “Give it a shot.” When you’ve done your job right a simple request for the order is often all it takes. In reality, the entire call is the close. At the end of your interactive presentation, you’re merely asking for what makes sense. (Or, if you use an assume close, you’re expecting what makes sense to happen.)

Whatever the actual close itself might be, I often set it up with by selling the negatives. I make my original recommendation, recommending, let’s say, the finest Premier Level package. I of course make the prospect want the Premier before ever mentioning the price. I make him want it, even if he’s thinking that it’s going to be far too expensive. Then I give him the price, provide all the reasons why it’s worth every penny of that price, and move into my initial close.

Often that will be a summary close. Most summary closes entail listing all the benefits then, in one form or another, asking for the order. “As we’ve agreed Mr. Customer, the new Jiff-o-matic is the fastest, the easiest, the most cost-effective…” Since no product is perfect I usually include a few negatives on that list.

Sometimes the prospect closes right away. Not usually, but once in awhile. If he doesn’t, I continue the process until I’m sure he can’t or won’t be able to buy the Premier. Then I try just a bit more, even though I don’t expect it to work. At that point, and not before, I cut back to my secondary recommendation. Slowly. Selling the negatives.

“Well, if you really can’t see your way clear to go with the Premier—and as I said, I think you should give it some very serious thought—but if you can’t, we do have the Marquee Level. Now, the Marquis package is not going to…”

And I list all the things the Marquee Level won’t do, all the ways it falls short of the Premier Level, stressing any features the prospect will be losing that he’s indicated might be important. Then I say, “But what the Marquis will do…” and I detail the positives—perhaps just a tad grudgingly—again stressing the features most important to the prospect and any additional advantages, even beyond saving money, gained by cutting back. Perhaps the Marquis package will take significantly less storage space or it will give him a chance to try out the product or service without such a lengthy commitment.

So I’ve set up a forced choice between my original recommendation and my cutback recommendation. Often at this point, the prospect takes over the selling: selling himself away from those features the cutback doesn’t offer, features he needed just a few moments before; trying to sell me into agreeing that the Marquis Level is really best for his situation. It’s astonishing how quickly vital features become unimportant when a significant amount of money can be saved. And if there’s a feature or two found only on the Premier Level that’s still important to him, often I can find a way to package it with the cutback recommendation—either for free or at a relatively small additional price—as a sweetener to clinch the deal.

If he isn’t losing any vital features by cutting back—and I made him want the original recommendation enough—anyone that’s breathing, and a few that aren’t, should be able to close the sale.

If necessary, a good salesperson can cut back three or four or more times before finally getting the order. The mistake mediocre salespeople make is that they cut back too quickly or they fail to stress what’s lost with each cutback.

“No way,’ the prospect says, shaking her head. “It may be a Premier package to you, to me it just looks overpriced. Way overpriced.”

“Well, we’ve also got our Marquis package” the rep says quickly. “Not only is it our highest rated in terms of customer satisfaction, it’s considerably less expensive than the Premier. Actually, it’s probably the best deal we offer.”

Then why was he just trying to foist the Premier on her? If he was any kind of salesperson at all, there must have been good reasons. He needs to make certain she knows what they were. Otherwise his original recommendation loses all credibility. Which means he loses all credibility. And the sale.

When done correctly, closing by cutting back can sometimes be as easy as cashing a big commission check. You just tell your prospects what they lose by cutting back—along with all the benefits they don’t lose and anything they gain—and let them sell themselves. This strategy also helps minimize buyer’s remorse. After you walk out the door, the prospect is far less likely to start feeling like he was sold something he wouldn’t have bought on his own. And he’s far more likely to feel he got the package he needed, the one he wanted to buy rather than the more expensive one you were trying to sell.

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© Barry Maher, used by permission

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Barry Maher speaks, consults and writes on sales, sales management and motivation. Selling Power magazine said, “To his powerful and famous clients, Barry Maher is simply the best sales trainer in the business.” This article is adapted from his latest book No Lie: Truth Is the Ultimate Sales Tool, which has been translated around the world.

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