Fundamental steps of sales -- is your sales team asking for the sale?

Success on the baseball diamond, especially when it comes to winning the World Series in October, relies heavily on pitchers. Starting pitchers set the tone for the team, and can keep the team in the game even if the rest of the team is struggling.

In my lifetime, the importance of a 'closer' on your pitching staff has gained importance. That strong, usually fast throwing pitcher that comes in at the end and seals the victory for the team is now an essential for any successful team.

For sales teams, the formula isn't that different from a baseball team. We need strong pitchers and powerful closers. The difference is we need each individual to possess the traits of the starting pitcher and the closer.

Too many times, our sales teams are pitching but not closing.  It is a basic fundamental of sales, but all too often overlooked; the close. If your sales rep is not asking for the sale in some way, shape or form then they are nothing more than professional conversationalist and wasting your company's money.

There are tons of websites and books devoted to how to close a sale. I don't presume to add anything new to the conversation that hasn't already been said millions of times. But bringing awareness to the issue needs to happen, and you have an opportunity to take action with your own team.

During a ride-along with a sales rep, one of the questions I will ask once we're back in the car is, "What closing technique did you use on that call?" Getting the rep to think about this specific step in the sales process starts to change their mindset on the process. Too many times, the answer is they don't know or worse, they never tried a closing technique on the sales call.

There are dozens of closing techniques available in the salesperson's bag of tricks. While some companies will teach a strict formula approach for the sales process, I tend to believe that the technique a sales rep using should be based on what they are most comfortable with using. The key is to ask for the sale. Which closing approach you used doesn't necessarily matter to me. In my case, I found myself focusing on five basic closing techniques that worked best for me.

Direct Close - Maybe the simplest technique to use, where you directly ask for the sale. The key in using this one is to be relatively sure the customer is ready to buy, as a direct approach can be perceived as a negative if the customer isn't ready to commit.

Indirect Close - Asking a question of your customer isn't as intrusive as a direct close, and many sales reps like to use this as a closing technique. "How does this proposal sound to you?" If they respond positively, you start working on ad copy. If they respond negatively, you start working on overcoming objections. Either way, you know clearly what the next step is in the process.

Assumptive Close - Assume the customer has agreed, and start to wrap up the process by saying "Just sign this agreement and I'll get this program started." Like the indirect close, you will know the next steps clearly after this step.

Alternative Close - I really like to offer a contained choice to an advertiser as a close. After presenting and laying out the options for the campaign, ask "Would you like option A or option B?" You're giving the customer a choice and thus giving them a sense of control in the process when in fact you've forced them to make a decision or offer objections.

Fear of Loss Close - This is a good option for a sponsorship, premium opportunity or anything that is in limited supply.  By telling the customer that if this is something that they are interested in, they need to decide now because others are out selling this exact package, including potentially to their competition. This is direct pressure on the customer, playing on their fear of losing out and is quite effective.

The key to closing the sale is to ask for it. Too many opportunities are lost by simply not asking for a decision. If the answer is yes, we celebrate. If the answer is no, it just shows there is still work to be done and as a sales person you start finding out and overcoming the objectives.