Great closers get sales no matter the economic situation they or their company faces. Top closers continue to excel even in the current market down turn. In this article I will explore characteristics of great closers and how they use them to turn up sales in the current market.

Top closers use several key characteristics to gain prospect’s trust and to get the potential buyer to part with their money and become a buyer. No one of these characteristics will alone win every sale, however being able to control and maximizing each characteristic or trait at the right time will significantly increase your odds of getting the deal. As you read through this article, think back to the last time you made a purchase of $ 10K+. Would you buy from people who did not expressed these characteristics?

Be likable- People buy from people they like. People also like to buy from people they feel they have something in common with, or want to be like. Our job is to emulate the person the buyer wants to purchase from. We must be able to agree when appropriate and disagree when the buyer’s best friend would tell them they are crazy. Being liked by everyone requires a lot of people skills. A successful sales professional will be able to decide when their buyer likes them or when the buyer really dislikes them, and from these observations determine when they need to adjust their approach.

Enthusiasm- One of the most important characteristics of a sales superstar is their ability to bring enthusiasm to everyone they come into contact with. Entire books are written on the one simple sounding concept that one person’s enthusiasm will automatically make those around them become more enthusiastic. It acts like a common cold or epidemic where once one person becomes infected the disease spreads rapidly throughout those the infected person comes into contact with. Bring uncontrolled enthusiasm and you will always infect the people you are in contact with in a positive manner. You need to control your ability to positively infect your customers with your contagiousness. The alternate is also true. Individuals who are depressed tend to depress those they come into contact with. With sales, and more importantly closing, your ability to use enthusiasm and positive energy to influence your customers positively will be directly correlated to the number of individuals you close on any given day. The more enthusiasm you can spread the better off you’ll be, guaranteed.

Learn from past mistakes- Earlier we discussed being likeable and being able to determine whether the buyer liked us enough to purchase from us. While it is true that buyers generally do not buy from people they do not like, it is impossible to make everyone like you. In those circumstances where you are simply unable to turn someone but you feel they would have bought from a different personality you must be able to look back at the interaction and determine where you went wrong, so next time you can approach the situation differently. For now, you need to be able to say “they were losers anyways,” but next time you see the same kind of buyer you need to be able to read them, approach them properly, and get the sale.

Understand buying signs- When people are ready to make a purchase they often do funny, quirky, or weird things that stand out to the trained professional. We need to be able to spot these signs and pounce at the exact moment. A friend of mine once wrote an article on buying signs for seminar attendees. He literally studied everything from actions, to posture, to what they wore, their breathing patterns, number of times they blinked per minute, to whether they had a news paper with them or a cup of Starbucks Coffee. The point here isn’t that he found the path to heaven. What really struck me was how seriously he had gotten into knowing his buyers. In certain situations he really could predict who would buy and for several years he was by far his company’s top producer. I want you to remember to watch your buyers and to try to figure out buying signs. Doing so will enable you to ask them for the close when they are hot.

Be Flexible- A successful closer is able to flow with the punches or take things as they are thrown at them, which includes turning an irate person into a buyer, dealing with weather issues, bad press, and critics. The best way to explain being flexible is summed up best by a very close friend of mine who taught me the phrase “flex and flow and you’ll get the dough.” When we worked together we often dealt with difficulties and a myriad of issues. No heat/air. No power. No food for lunch. Not enough training materials for our prospective buyers. Having too small of a meeting room for our sales presentation. Bad Press. Government interventions. You name it we had it. Our motto was “flex and flow” and we came to work every day, made friends, dealt with whatever was thrown at us, and made a boat load of money. Flexing and flowing was a prerequisite of coming to work each day.

Without the ability to flex and flow we are unable to overcome a buyer’s objections. Yet, when we flex and flow we will be able to meet the needs of the buyer and get their order. Also, buyers notice when we are dealing with unfortunate situations. They notice how we deal with them. And, if we flex and flow buyers will often give us the benefit of the doubt and buy to show they approve by buying.

Confidence- When you go to a prospective client with the right questions, the right approach, and enough confidence to tell them with absolute certainty what to do they will almost always buy what you are selling. You must have absolute confidence, at all costs. If you have confidence, you will be able to sell with total domination. As sales representatives our job is easy. We simply need to find out how the prospective client wants to pay and take their preferred form of payment. Running a credit card or processing a check is easy. The difference between a client purchasing or not really comes down if we have what it takes to get the job done.

Knowledgeable- I left this last because in my opinion it is the least important trait. You must know your product. You should know about your competitors and you really need to understand the market. But, being extremely knowledgeable is seldom going to make or break a deal. Being able to answer the most common questions and give direction to prospective clients is all you really need. In fact, it is often good to be right up front with a client when you are at the end of your knowledge but that you’ll be happy to figure the answer out with them. Remember being likeable, learning from mistakes, flex and flow, and absolute confidence from above? This is the perfect situation to turn them on and by admitting you are going to be learning with your client is a great way to get on their side. I worked with a great salesman who really knew nothing about our product-an Internet business software suite. He really knew very little about computers and the Internet at all. What he did know was how to make friends, how to get them to like and trust him, and how to close. He was almost always one of the top deal producers, regardless of his lack of product knowledge.

Summary- Remember these key characteristics as you learn and adapt your style of closing. You should always be aware of how much people like you. Take each interaction with a client and learn something to use the next time you meet someone like them. By flexing and flowing you’ll be able to still get deals even when times are less than optimal. Most important of all use your experience and personality to close as many deals as possible. Never be the A-Hole sales guy or the used car sales person walking around in the plaid suit. Most of the time we have the ability to at least meet some of the buyer’s needs. We can use our personality to carry on a conversation on some remotely mutual subject. As we gain their confidence we will also gain confidence. In the mean time fake it. Once we master that we’re ready to start really closing.

(c) 2009 P. Ross Weber
http://www.inyourfaceclosing.com