How to Close a Modal?

I can't close. How can I learn how to close better?

• I have all the optics of doing well; I work really hard (or at least long hours), I'm pretty thoughtful and conscientious, well educated, and more. I seem to be incredibly unable to close; no matter how I try, I can't seem to close deals. In particular, I work in the ecommerce space and focus on sales and BD. I never seem to close the most lucrative deals. How do I get better about this?

• Answer:

  So here's my personal opinion on closing. Personal background in B2B sales (tech). A lot of the literature and "tactics" on closing talk about the end of the deal. There's literature and people talking about this out there, I can't really recommend any of it. That's because for me personally, I find that the real "closing" comes at the start of a deal, not at the end of it. Here's my personal take on it: Do you: 1) understand the value that you are providing to the customer? I don't mean are you telling them about how scalable your database is, I mean do you personally understand why it's in their best interest to buy what you're selling? Would you personally buy it if you were in their situation? And what is that value? if the database is scalable, and your software costs $10,000, does that mean they can cut down on dev costs of $30,000 elsewhere? does that mean that they'll sell $100k worth of more stuff? does that mean they'll retain 40% more clients because of less downtime? what is the real value you're selling? This part only comes from a lot of listening. Listening and getting to understand your clients business, and how what you're doing will impact it. 2) have the customer articulating that this is the value that they see? It's good that you've said it, but have they said it back to you? that they want this in the first place? some clients want to save money, some are more than eager to spend it. Has the client come out and said that this is in line with what they want? That this direction is important to them? Listening again. Even if it's an obvious situation, having them say it puts it out there. It puts it out in the open. Even if you've told them 500 times that you solution will save them money, you need to have them say that saving money is important to them. And that quality is important to them. And also help them understand and order what is more important to them. Savings before quality where? and how much? and what are they willing to trade off? Even if they say that saving money is the most important thing in the world to them, and your solution will cost twice as much but also save them 4 times more in total costs, getting them to say that they want to see total cost savings is important vs. just project cost savings. Be aware of the internal politics of budgeting and resources, etc. IMHO. 3) Have a relationship with the client. Do you both laugh a few times each meeting? I'm not saying you should be putting together arranged marriages for your kids, but is there a relationship here? A relationship won't win you the deal. If you're selling the exact same thing and service at 10 times the price compared with someone with no relationship, you couldn't blame the customer for going elsewhere. But a relationship will mean that if you're close, you'll win. And if you're out to lunch on your price or the product, they'll give you a chance to explain why and either adjust or help compare why there's a difference. This is also listening. Listening and also opening up to a stranger on a personal level. They might open up to you as well, or they might not. But be prepared to put yourself out there personally, and if the other side starts doing the same then stop talking about yourself and let them talk about themselves as much as they're willing to let you listen. 4) Have contact at the right levels? Are you doing this will all stakeholders? Most literature talks about selling to the top, the final decision maker, which I personally agree with, but I also have seen many deals get torpedoed by an end user, someone who was far from the top but just said "no" to one small thing and that shut the whole thing down. That isn't a shot at the customer - that's not understanding the customer. Not listening. Have all this, then closing is along the lines of "Ms. Customer, from what you've told me I think this is going to help you with your goals of ______ ______ and ______. To work within your timelines we'll need to move to ____ and ____ by the end of the week. I know this is important to you so I'm ready to book off my personal time to make sure that this runs perfectly well. Does that work for you?" Don't have that, and chances are that the customer is just taking your bid to make sure that the person that is doing that is giving them an honest price. Just my personal two cents on it. Keep in mind this my personal approach. It's best to test and find what works for your personally. This turned out longer than I thought it would be, this is just a one-draft rough copy. I'm sure there's some others with a sales background that would have excellent insight as well that I'd love to hear.