- Are you constantly trying to sell your prospects?
Are you trying to get them to do business with you
by selling them every single time you're in front of them?
The reality is, is that modern selling really isn't
actually about selling per se, at least,
not in the traditional sense of the word.
Instead, the focus is really on determining fit
and once we know there's a fit, then we can start to create
value in that conversation.
In this video, I'm going to show you
how to stop selling and start closing sales.
Check it out.
Number one, know your ideal prospect.
This is really a mistake that so many salespeople make
which is trying to do business with a broad group of people,
when in fact, their ideal prospects are actually out there
and they're not in front of them because they're so focused
on selling to a bigger audience as opposed to
really narrowing down the ideal prospect.
And an ideal prospect can fit a bunch of different profiles.
It could be focused on industry.
It could be focused on title.
It could be focused on department in an organization.
And it can be most likely a combination of all of those
and maybe a specific set of challenges or whatever it is.
But knowing exactly who your ideal prospect is
and really focusing specifically on going after them,
is going to save you so much time trying to sell
all of these other people that really were never
your ideal prospect in the first place.
So start to clarify who isn't your prospect.
Who do you not want to be selling to and then focus on them.
Number two, only focus on ideal prospects.
I need to drive this point home because it's so key.
This means that if you are dealing with someone
who isn't an ideal prospect, stop dealing with them.
Move on, refer them to someone else.
Focus your time on only ideal prospects.
One of the biggest differentiators between top performing
salespeople and every one else, I'm talking about the hordes
of everyone else, is that top performing salespeople spend
all of their time in front of only their ideal prospects.
And what that means is that they're getting rid
of all of those other people, only focus on those
truly ideal prospects, the people that are going to have
the budgets, that are going to be good customers
that are gonna be great clients and that ultimately,
are going to be able to give you a yes or no decision.
Number three, get rid of the rabble.
Now, (laughing) this again, builds on the earlier point,
but getting rid of the rabble may sound kind of mean,
but it is so true and so critical.
I find that a lot of times, we come across these prospects
that kind of fit who we could work with and we spend
all of this time trying to sell them
because, eh, they're right in front of us,
so why not sell them?
Instead, as a top performing salespeople,
what we want to do is determine whether someone's a fit
up front, and if we determine that they're not, move on.
Get rid of the rabble.
Don be distracted by all of these different potential
opportunities, most of which are kinda junk.
Get rid of the rabble and focus on those people
that are truly ideal prospects
that are going to be that good fit.
Number four, disqualify prospects.
Now if you've been in my world for some time,
you've heard this term of disqualifying prospects.
And what's amazing to me is even some of my best clients
still come back to me and say, "Well, you know what Marc?
"I used the disqualification process of trying to get rid
"of those people that aren't a fit, but I'm still coming
"across some of these people and I'm keeping them along
"in my process that may or may not be a fit."
What we want to do is spend the early part of the sale
disqualifying people that are not a good fit!
Get rid of 'em, it is so liberating
to early on in a sales process to determine, you know what?
This person's really not a fit for what we have.
It may mean that they don't have the money
or they're not really the qualified decision maker
or they don't have the challenges or whatever it is,
once we determine that, we can disqualify them
and then we can act accordingly.
By the way, if they're not the decision maker,
that doesn't mean that you just suddenly say,
ah, you're not the decision maker, go away.
But you don't want to be going down the entire
sales process with this person, presenting to them
and then expecting a decision and then ultimately,
they're going to give you a big, fat, I've got to think
it over or I gotta run this by my boss, and now you've
gone through that process and you've wasted a lot of time
and you're in a weaker position.
Instead, disqualify prospects that aren't a fit
and determine what is the good next step.
That may mean just moving on and forgetting about them
or it may mean getting an introduction
from them into someone else.
Number five, the doctor's mindset.
The doctor's mindset is so key and what this really means
is that when a prospect gets in front of us,
we need to think like a doctor.
We've got to stop thinking
like a salesperson or a consultant.
Instead we really want to think like a doctor.
Think about going to a doctor's office.
You walk into that doctor's office
and you say, hey doc, you know what?
My elbow, I've been having this issue
and I think I might need some surgery.
If that doctor came back and said,
"Well you know what Marc?"
"You're in the right place, we have this incredible
"procedure called orthoscopic surgery, it's unbelievable.
"We're going to cut away the bad stuff, sew you back up
"and within a week, you can use that elbow again,
"so you ready to do it?"
And they push that contract right across the desk.
How would you feel in that situation? (laughing)
Of course you'd be like, ah,
I'm gonna get the hell outta here!
That's what most salespeople are doing
in selling situations.
They're trying to close sales all the time.
They're selling all the time.
Instead, take a step back and think like a doctor.
A good doctor when a perspective patient walks in,
they're doing what?
They are asking questions, they're diagnosing.
They're using their expertise to determine
whether there's a fit and whether this particular solution
is going to be ideal for them.
Using that doctor's mindset is going to change everything.
Because it's going to take a lot of pressure off of you
and that prospect and at the same time,
it's going to create a lot more value.
Number six, only present to their challenges.
Have you ever been in a selling situation where
it was actually going pretty well,
and you're in this presentation and they're like, "Oh yeah,
"that makes a lot of sense."
And "Oh, I can see how we could use that."
And it just feels good and then you get excited
and you say, oh, and by the way, let me show you
one other thing that we can do.
And you present that one other thing
and they're like, "Huh, yeah we don't
"really need that right now."
And then suddenly in that moment, you can feel
that you're kinda like pushing that rock
back up the hill again, just trying to get
to where you were 20 seconds previously.
Only present to their challenges.
Don't present a solution that goes beyond their challenges.
If they don't have a particular challenge,
don't present a solution to solve
a challenge that they don't have.
Because that's going to throw them off.
They're going to think, "This doesn't really make sense."
Or "We don't really need that."
And now they're gonna say, "Can we take this out?"
Or you're just going to send the message
that you didn't really get what they most care about.
Present a solution that is directly focused on solving
only the challenges that they have shared
with you or that you know they have.
Ideally, you have discussed all of those challenges though,
in that discovery conversation
leading up to that presentation.
Number seven, get tons of feedback.
Feedback, feedback, feedback
all the way throughout the sale.
All the way from the beginning to the end.
There is a tendency, especially by the way,
for more seasoned salespeople to get on a roll.
And we're like, oh yeah, I'm feelin' good.
I'm killin' this one, and we just start
talkin' and talkin' and talkin' and we're not getting
feedback from the prospect throughout this process.
And so, even when we're presenting a solution,
we're just talking for 10 minutes straight.
What we want to be doing instead,
is constantly getting feedback throughout,
anytime that we're talking.
Now do you see what I just did there?
I'm getting a little feedback from you,
and of course, this is a little weird 'cause this is a video
and I'm not looking at a real human being,
but you're watching this and you're saying,
"Yeah, I do get what you're saying."
Anytime we're talking for significant periods of time,
we want to be getting feedback from them
with little questions that I call feedback loops.
Something that just sounds like, hey,
so does that make sense?
Or, do you see what I'm saying there?
The more we're using those little questions
to bring them back, the data shows that prospects
are much more likely to do business with us
the more we're getting that feedback.
You literally cannot overdo this.
Get tons of feedback, does that make sense?
Number eight, drop the hard close.
Now I know the title of this video was
How to Stop Selling and Start Closing and so you're thinkin'
"How am I gonna use this hardcore, arm wrestling closing
"technique that I can now use and it's just gonna be
"this magic bullet that's gonna close every single sale?"
We need to drop that hard close.
Selling is not about selling, and it's not about closing.
Selling is about using a process by which we determine
whether there's a fit and we're asking
really powerful questions to create value,
to engage them in that conversation,
to understand exactly what's going on.
Using our expertise, by the way,
but really pulling them into a conversation.
And so, that way by time, the closing moment is ready.
You've gone through a discovery,
you've presented your solution.
There is no hard close because we've gotten so much feedback
throughout, that the only question you ever have
to be asking in a closing situation is,
what would you like to do next?
And because you've done such a good job up until then,
they're naturally going to say, "How do we move forward?"
or "You know what, I'd like to bring in
"so and so into this conversation."
Or whatever it is, so you clarify exactly
what that next step is and there's never that hard close.
If we can avoid that hard close,
we're going to be selling so much more.
There is how to stop selling and start closing sales!
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