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Psychological Aspects of Closing the Sale

Guest post by: Marshall W. Northcott

Article Overview: Do you or your staff have issues when it comes to closing sales and asking for commitment? This article will explain some of the primary reasons why this happens enabling you to develop a strategy to overcome this challenge!

Psychological Aspects of Closing the Sale

An overwhelming percentage of sales people struggle with the act of asking for the order. Regardless of whether they executed their duties with professional precision or not when the moment in time arrives to secure the business by asking for customer commitment, research indicates that a majority of sales people fail to ask the necessary question. Why is it that even those who have been formally trained with years of experience can fall short in such a critical aspect of their job function?

Here are some conclusions that I have arrived at:

• For some reason they feel (emotional) that they haven't earned the business yet.
• That they haven't answered all the prospect's questions and that the flow of the meeting is going too smoothly and therefore, something must be wrong.
• Guilt because they aren't 100% certain that what they are recommending is what the prospect should be doing.
• Don't want to be held responsible for pushing the decision in case the customer has regrets or buyers remorse afterwards.
• The perception that asking for the business is too pushy and the prospect or customer may not like them if they are too forward by coming right out and asking for their business.
• That they don't deserve the business for some reason - haven't earned it, that they are not worthy of it, haven't worked hard enough for it or they may feel inferior to the customer.
• That the prospect is happy or satisfied with their situation and therefore the sales representative isn't convinced that the prospect should make a change.
• Need for acceptance and not wanting to face potential rejection if the answer is no.
• Avoidance of pain or perceive pain and/or rejection.
• Think that if they have done their job properly that the prospect will come right out and ask for the product, service or solution if they want it.

Why do sales people struggle with this? What are they possibly uncomfortable with? What holds them back from taking the final step in the sale interaction? Here are some thoughts:

• They don't feel a good connection - poor rapport with customer or prospect.
• A lack of information received from the customer.
• They do not have a solid understanding of the customer and their business.
• The sales representative has a low level of confidence in themselves, their company and/or the product. (Poor product or industry related knowledge or belief)
• They have a high degree of fear of rejection or the feeling of humiliation if the customer says no.
• They are uncomfortable being in an influential, consultative or leading role.
• They are secretly terrified or intimidated of the prospect and of being unaccepted.
• If they haven't covered everything (all the necessary details) by sticking to a step by step process in their sales interaction, then it just doesn't feel right to ask.
• If they haven't established enough value for their product or service then they will feel nervous or apprehensive about asking.
• It can be for other psychological, personality or emotional reasons such as lack of worthiness or low self-esteem.
• They may have poor observation skills or a lack of intuitiveness that helps them to recognize and seize opportunities in a timely manner.

For the most part, the resolution for this issue is addressing the matter on an individual basis. Training will certainly teach people the how tos and the why tos however, when an individual is not following through by asking for the business it is often a problem that is very specific to them. The sales representative must be assessed in action on numerous occasions, gaps in the sales process, plus missed opportunities and/or failures to ask for commitment at the appropriate moment must be documented. Then the sales representative must be debriefed afterwards to determine what they were thinking and feeling during the moments that they failed to take appropriate action. Critical selling steps that were skipped or breezed through must be acknowledged and addressed. Only then, after gaining a clear understanding can you elevate their awareness, raise their consciousness, provide them with the necessary tools and coach them through the process to improve their closing ratios.

Related Articles
  Closing Checklist
  The 5 “Secrets” of closing the sale
  CLOSING THE SALE - IT'S HIGHLY OVERRATED
  CLOSING - IT WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOU!
  Sure-Fire Techniques for Closing Sales

Article Tags: avoidance, buyers remorse, conclusions, critical aspect, customer commitment, guilt, job, li li, moment in time, overwhelming percentage, perception, regrets, rejection, sales representative, struggle, ul



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