How do you close a deal?

You can try to offer them a free month or 2 weeks service and once they get some result they will want to buy from you anyway.

Do not offer free! As soon as you do, you've just let the client know that you are not even successful enough at marketing to promote your own business. The way I close a sale is by letting the client know that each of my clients are exclusive to the niche; the unspoken part of that is that if they don't go with my services they run the risk of one of their competitors signing up with me.

Will

"I need to think about it" is usually (YMMV) closer to a "no" than a "yes". When you hear that RESIST the temptation to offer your service for free. We DO NOT give free trials of ANY of our business solutions, we feel that they are very valuable and to do so cheapens them. Besides, there's a LOT of setup that goes into every one of our accounts (in fact for SMS services, we charge $497 set up fee -- no way are we giving that away).

Something I learned a long time ago, the HARD WAY: usually, when you hear "I need to think about it" is can mean that you failed to properly pre-qualify your lead.

Simply say, "While you're thinking about it, I'll be over at ________ (insert competitor name here). Call me when you've made your decision."

If you offer 2 weeks or a month of free service you have a chance to prove that you can drive traffic and provide value for the business.After all you must give some kind of value for the money you want.So, why not prove them you can do that...and at that point the selling becomes just easy... if you bring the business traffic then they will be more then happy to pay for your service.Think long term business and don't forget the power of FREE.

Remember, never try to sell your service.Focus on the value you can give to the business & educate your client about your service. Then they will just buy your service.
Don't be a old car salesman. 8D

Never offer a Free service! You will lose your client as soon as you use Free as they won't buy after that...
What you have to stress to them is the fact of if there competition uses the strategies you are sharing with them etc etc

Sometimes you just have to be blunt ....

What do you have to think about? .. then shut up .... they will almost always be forced to tell you why ... after each reason ... go back and deal with each one ... you must be ready to do battle (in a good way) every time you meet and talk with someone.

If you break down your talk with strategic use of "do you think your business would benefit from that?" ... try that next time and see what reaction you get.

Some Will ~ Some Won't ~ So What. / Next!

In my business...I've instructed my sales team to offer a "Buy 1 month, get the 2nd month FREE".

They have to pay UPFRONT. How do I close this deal? Ask the client "what's it's worth to them for just ONE lifetime customer?" We also offer a GUARANTEE that they'll get that ONE lifetime customer or we'll refund that 1st month they just paid upfront.

Obviously, if you can't back this up you'll refund but how in the hell could you NOT find 1 lousy customer for the client in two months? Any type of tracking you put in place (regardless of the service provided) will show at least one sales conversion.

It's really simple...just move the "free" line. Start selling and stop worrying about someone saying "no" to you. As I always say, "find someone who doesn't hate you yet" and you'll close sales.

Dennis

Sell Yourself, not the product, and once they like you, they will do anything you ask of them.

Sure give them the benefits but in a friendly way. Show you care more about them or their business than the product or service you are offering. They need to like you above all!

Bernard St-Pierre

You can give him a feeling that words though are important for legal and trading purpose, real important thing is one's frame of mind and sincerity behind the cause. If one is convinced , differences of words can be a small matter to sort out. Go ahead by giving them little time to think, but be after them, do not let them forget it.

Sometimes a person saying "let me think about it" means that they actually need time to think about it. You have to realize that people are busy running a business and have "life" going on, so if they say this just ask them when is a good time/day to follow up.

I say "really tell me more about that". Then I wait for the objection. I may keep repeating "really tell me more about that". The first objection is rarely the true objection.

Hi Mr. Couchpotato

1: First of All you handle the "let me think about it" objection in your presentation by making an urgent limited kind of offer... make it AMAZINGLY advantageous to say yes now... and sets them at a disadvantage if they put it off until later... This (scarcity) should be crafted into your offer.

That objection should be anticipated and all throughout your conversation you should be looking for opportunities to cut it off at the pass before the close.

2: Judge your prospects ability to pay/cooperate throughout the conversation size him up, make note of what gets a rise from him/her...and make a closing offer that you know he cant say NO to based on your distinctions.

3: "Tell you what Bob, I understand you arent ready to go the whole way, why dont I go ahead and set up your domain name anyway and get you up a page drawing traffic and if we need to take six months to work this out thats fine, because I will still want to earn your business 6 months from now... It'd cost me about $80 to get that registered and get a page up so we can at least get you indexed, that way you will be positioned AHEAD OF TIME (busi9ness people like to be positioned ahead of time) , for when we go to do your web site.... Would that help you out"?

A: You just paid for your gas, and it only takes 20 minutes to complete the task.

B: The next time someone calls him he is gonna say "I already have a web guy".

C: When he inevitably builds his site, you get the business.

Ps. At closing time, just stretch a little and say "Well Alrighty then! Looks Like I have everything I need here... I guess I just need you to write me a check and I'll get outta your hair..."

(Real casual like you do it all the time)

OR,

Alrighty Bob, so lets recap this is what we are doing (pointing to notes with pen) Am I correct?

At this point he is gonna say "Yeah, now how do I pay you..." if you are lucky, and sometimes you are, but he may not so you say..." Okay! Looks good! I guess all I need is a check ...and Ill get outta here, so we can get this started! (Wait for him to bust out the checkbook).

If he says "How do I know I can trust you", say "Because $1500.00 aint worth looking over my shoulder for...", and let him keep writing.

If all else fails... let it go and move on. Try, but not too hard. " So neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you... (or prospects ) Let all men count with you, but none too much" -kipling

There's me n Rudy's two cents. Might buy you a client or two.

Hope it helps.

A professional sales person is trained to use the 'weighing close' when a client wants to 'think it over'.

You begin the close with these words:

"Before making any important decision, one must weigh the ideas opposed with the reasons for investing now."

You then take a piece of A4 paper and draw a line down the middle of it. On the left hand side at the top, you write No. On the right hand side you write Yes.

Then you simply say: "You've got one or two doubts about taking us up on this offer, haven't you? Which is why you want to think it over. You mentioned them earlier. Let's list them under No."

What could be more open and low pressure? It's a logical, common sense thing to do.

Usually, your client will then give you only a couple of reasons for not going ahead -- at most four or five.

You just write down the negative reasons which they offer.

Don't help him with these doubts on the NO side. Shut up. Keep Quiet. It's NOT your job to help your client be negative.

When they've stated their doubts, you hand the piece of paper to them and ask : "That's listed all the reasons for NOT going ahead hasn't it?"

They agree.

Then you hand them the pen and say: "What were the reasons for going ahead?"

You let your client name one reason for buying your promise today, and ask them to write it down under Yes. Then another, and another.

NOW you start to help them!

"Didn't we mention this .... Didn't you say that you liked the idea that ... Wasn't this point important to you?"

When you've BOTH finished with the Yes column, IT SHOULD CONTAIN AT LEAST TEN REASONS FOR GOING AHEAD NOW.

You now say:

"Which, in your opinion, do you feel outweighs the other? The ideas opposed or the reasons for booking now?"

When he counts the columns and says something like "I guess the reasons for booking now .....", you go straight to your basic oral close: "By the way, do have an order number for this booking, or do you use some other system?"

What happens if he says something like: "Well, there are more reasons to book, but I believe that the two reasons against going ahead now are more important, and outweigh those on the Yes side."

What should you do?

Tell him not to book!

Be honest. You can come back again later in the year. Or maybe this client should never book. Either way, thank him for his time and ask for a referral. You've done your job.

Try to never let them 'think it over' by themselves. They'll ususally choose 'No'. Help them to think it over and choose 'Yes'.

There've been some great replies above. I'll just Add a thought to them. Before I do, I'll weigh in with people that have said do not offer anything free. That is good advice. The only time I ever offer anything free is if it's an additional bonus they get for an upgrade. For example, I will throw in a Google Places listing if they go from a five keyword SEO plan to a ten keyword SEO plan. Under no circumstances would it be advisable to give anything away for free just to get business.

Let's take a look at what they're telling you when they say, “I need to think about it.”

When going through the sales process you need to handle the objections that the person gives you. Once you get good at this and you know your industry well, you will be able to handle the objections during your presentation and I'll never need to be stated aloud.

"I need to think about it” is not an objection that can be handled directly. You need to troll the objection out so that it can be properly handled.

I usually respond to that with something like, “I understand this is a decision that deserves proper contemplation. What is it, exactly, that you need to think about? I am happy hope you make a more informed decision.”

Once they've given you an actual objection such as they're not sure they need that much of what you have to offer or it's too much money (which always means you didn't show enough value), then you have something that can be directly addressed.

Until you know the reason and motivation for wanting to delay a purchase, you are not sure that what you're stating to handle the objection is actually addressing their specific concern. You must get that on the table first.

I do think an “I need to think about it” response is closer to yes then no. When people don't want something they usually say they don't want something. When they're sitting on the fence and are not certain is when they start putting off the decision. Find out what it is they need to think about, handle it, and close the sale!

Hope that helps.