Closing Deals and Filtering Out Tyre Kickers

Hey Guys

Was literally just sitting watching the news and thinking back on the year and something I think which might be tricky for anyone especially the new disciples of offline marketing is actually closing the deal and filtering out tyre kickers.

Hopefully what I've learnt can be useful and hope other more experienced offline consultants/marketers can add their own two cents or more.

It's safe to say that getting a meeting is easily the best indicator that you have a warm buyer or at least someone who is interested.

You arrive exchange pleasantries and three things which you should always remember to include:

1. Ask the business owner or MD what is it you want to achieve?
2. What are the cheapest and most expensive services/products you provide?
3. Here is what I know and what I know that can make you more money (i.e how you will achieve question 1)

(Question 2 gives you an indication of what they charge their own customers and provides a good gauge on what budget level they will be thinking.)

Closing The Deal:
Now sometimes they will close themselves and say where do I sign but most times they will say this all sounds great send me a full proposal.

At this point it is always crucial to remember:

''I am the expert here I don't work for free'' & ''No deposit No Proposal''

So here's what I've found help confirm whether to still put any time into the prospect i.e. whether they will become a client.

I would love to send you a proposal Mr Prospect however we take a nominal deposit of £300 (question 2 again above can help you gauge what this deposit should be) before we do any sort of work as I'm sure you wouldn't be having us work for free lol. (jokingly/laughingly said with a serious edge).

Sometimes they say well how do I know what I'm paying for or something else along those lines.

You can begin your response by saying its essentially everything we have just discussed and how we intend to make you more money or whatever it is in question 1 above they mentioned as the key points.

Your responses can/should be:

1.The deposit is credited to your account and goes towards the bill we send you.

2. Us putting a full proposal together is our commitment to you which means you can turn round and not use us but give our proposal to someone else so unless you are w sign a restrictive covenant and non disclosure agreement we have no commitment from you.

3. We don't operate by pestering our clients or chasing people for deals, our clients use us because we offer a good quality service we don't want to waste your time if you are not interested in our service and we want to use our time properly as just like you we have clients/customers to ensure we always are taking care of them.


It might seem like you should always pander to the clients tune but in reality they don't want a push over and from setting the ground rules from the start you not only come across as professional but also you've added some value in that you are not begging them to hire you and you know your stuff and your worth. You want to help but only if its the right fit.

We've found this process at the meeting can cut down the tyre kickers seriously and you don't waste time pestering because if they don't sign off on an invoice which is in effect a credit note then they will more than likely not go the full way.

Helps keep the meetings to only two or just one always have the contract for the deposit on you hence next meeting is to sign off the full proposal and contract .

I hope this will be of some use to the newer off liners and give you less headache and less of learning curve as this is one of those things you only learn going forward or if someone with experience tells you early on.

Merry Xmas and an even better new year.