By the time you get to the end of your sales presentation, you
should have no doubts as to how good a fit your prospect is for
your offering. You should know exactly how it'll benefit them
and what they stand to lose if they don't move forward with
you. But even if you think buying your product or service
is the obvious path forward, it might not be obvious to your
prospect. The truth is, change is scary, and you're asking your
prospect to change. It's only natural that some prospects will
be hesitant to commit, even if they understand that buying from
you is the best way to achieve their goals and overcome their
challenges. When that happens, you need to help them find the
motivation to commit. One technique for getting commitment
is the 1 to 10 closing technique. When the questions in
the 1 to 10 closing technique are asked in the right order,
you can encourage the prospect to share why they want to buy
and then weigh whether those benefits are worth the risk or
downside of their concerns. This technique supports them through
this decision by helping them talk through and summarize the
benefits and risks for themselves. As they weigh the
pros and cons, many prospects will overcome any lingering
hesitancy and find the courage to move forward. Let's cover a
few different scenarios and how you should handle them if they
happen. The first question to ask your prospect is: "From one
to 10, where one is "I'm not interested in working with you"
and 10 is "Sign me up now," what number are you?" The second
question aims to uncover why they will buy. If they give a
number higher than six, say something like, "Really? I'm
surprised you picked a number so high. Based on our
conversations, I figured you'd be much closer to a seven. Why
did you pick nine?" You don't have to say seven, it could be
eight or six. It doesn't matter what particular number you use
as long as it's a number lower than the one they threw out. The
key to this question is to get the prospect to tell you why
they want to buy. Spend some time here. Acknowledge what they
say by repeating it back to them. Ask them to elaborate on
the things they say. It's key to get more than one good answer
from the prospect. After they give you their initial reasons,
ask them why else they would move forward. If you know other
reasons they want to buy that they haven't shared at this
moment, don't be afraid to prompt them. This is also a good
place to remind them of how you're different compared to
competitive solutions — just make sure you do it in question
format. You might ask: "What about reason X? Is that a reason
why you chose a higher number than I expected? How important
is X benefit?" After they've shared an exhaustive list of
reasons, repeat what they've said back to them: "So, it seems
like you chose nine because of the following reasons: A, B, C,
D, E, and most of all, F." At some point, you need to
transition from why they would move forward to why they might
not. The third question uncovers their concerns. Ask: "Okay. Wow.
It seems like there are some good reasons why you'd like to
move forward. But now I'm confused again. Based on all of
those reasons, I'm wondering why it's not a 10?" Now they should
share their concerns. Ideally, it'll sound something like this:
"My only concern is X. If I didn't care about X, we'd be a
10." Even if your buyer can only come up with one or two
concerns, don't get overconfident. Make sure you
explore their objections. Say something like: "I see. Does it
make sense to talk about this a bit more? We may be able to work
through this issue together." Or: "Hmm. I bet we can avoid
this concern altogether. Do you want to talk through how we
avoid this issue with other clients?" And to make absolutely
sure they don't have any other hidden concerns, ask: "If you
were convinced this concern can be avoided altogether, would you
be a 10?" It's difficult to predict how to handle their
concerns exactly, because the specific concerns or objections
could vary quite a bit. Even if you can't ease their concerns
completely — and assuming they gave you a number pretty close
to 10 — you may still be able to close the deal. If they give you
a number lower than six in response to your initial
question, do not proceed. Instead, back up to the
exploratory phase of your sales process and figure out what
you've missed. You were thorough in getting them to tell you why
they wanted to buy, so be equally thorough here. If they
aren't forthcoming, don't be afraid to bring up small
concerns they've shared with you previously to get the ball
rolling. Perhaps something like, "On a previous call, you
expressed a concern that your team might not be able to handle
X task on an ongoing basis. Since completing that task on a
regular basis is key to helping you achieve your goals, are you
still concerned about that?" Now that you know all the reasons
your prospect wants to move forward and all the reasons why
they might not, you can ask the final closing question in this
technique. It sounds something like: "It seems like there are a
lot of reasons to move forward: X, Y, and Z. It also sounds like
you have two specific concerns. Now that we've discussed them,
has your number changed at all? Are you still a nine?" If they
aren't a 10 yet, prompt them to weigh the pros and cons they've
just shared with you: "So, you're still at a nine. I see.
In that case, are you prepared to walk away from all of the
benefits, or do you think the benefits outweigh the risks and
you should move forward?" At this point, you have a list of
pros and cons. Even if they don't sign your contract right
now, you have plenty of information. Ask them how and
when they're going to make the decision, and suggest next steps
accordingly. With the 1 to 10 closing technique, you're fully
uncovering all the reasons why a prospect wants to buy and why
they might not. Before you ask for their business, you're
helping them weigh the benefits, risks, upside, and downside of
making a decision to move forward — or not. Remember, when
you're helping your prospects make a decision, you're not
trying to sell, you're trying to help them buy. In sales, you
must embrace both closed-won or closed-lost results — after all,
the only thing you control completely is who you spend your
time with, not what decision they will ultimately make.
That's why it's critical that you put in the necessary effort
during the early parts of your sales process. When it comes
time to advise, you want to be confident that you're working
with a buyer that you are well positioned to help. And then if
you run into any hesitancy, the 1 to 10 closing technique will
help you bring the deal across the finish line.