Closing: 4 secrets which make it much, much easier to close a vending sale

Sales is a hard discipline to be in.

You get someone interested in your offering. They take it all on board, you visit them, find out their needs, show them how you can help, and submit your proposal.

Then nothing.

What’s going wrong? You’ve got an interested prospective buyer here, making all the right noises.

Surely the logical step is for them to place an order?

Let’s take a step back here. There are so many articles out there giving ideas on how to close.

‘So, when you would you need this installing?’ ‘Would you like me to check stock of this to make sure we have them in for you?’ ‘Would you go with a chilled and ambient dispenser or a chilled, ambient and sparkling?’

But the ideal close is preceded by a buying signal – that the client is ready to place their order. And we need to make sure that we’ve covered certain steps to achieve this.

The beauty is, when you do this, you’re in a much stronger position: You’re the solution provider and your prospect is asking you for help, as opposed to begging for business.

1. Know what value you bring.

You should be able to articulate, in relevant and meaningful terms, exactly what your offering will do for your customer.

‘This water dispenser will make your staff happier, healthier and feel more valued – so they’ll be more productive.’

Ideally, bring in some metrics or statistics. And show the customer what their situation would be like without your offering: help them to feel the pain of not investing.

2. Illustrate with success stories.

Show them how your product have helped other people like them. Show who they are and how they’ve succeeded. It all helps build trust.

3. Take your time.

Sure, some people want a quick close. But other people want to take their time to develop a relationship with you.

It’s a case of reading customers and letting them take it at their speed – sure, pushing them might get you a quicker sale but these days, customers want an easy, comfortable buying experience. And if you can’t give them that, one of your competitors will do.

4. Stop trying to close!

Instead, focus on helping your prospect determine if it makes good business sense to go with your proposal.

You’ve done your qualifying and analysis, and you know that it makes sense: you need to educate your prospect to see the same thing for themselves.

Once they’ve done this, they’ll be queueing up for your offering!

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Borg & Overström are a manufacturer and trade-only supplier of top quality, beautiful water systems.

We take pride in working with our clients to help them to develop their businesses, giving them tailored sales, marketing and technical training and advice.

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