Housing Giants - August 25, 2008 - (Page 24) sell The closing process must be a value building process that causes customers to participate. was ever told or taught. Matter of fact, it was hard for me to believe, especially with what they had to say about closing the sale. Each and every manager had the same thing to say: it was the work prior to the sale that created the results and made closing easy. The Fortune 100 managers believed that the differentiating, interviewing and matching processes produced the sale — not the closing question. They also said that if these processes worked, closing was a snap. They found that the fewer closings you used, the more sales you captured. These managers used Rackham’s studies to illustrate that trial closes, tie-downs and final closes had no effect on the sale, especially with the highpriced product; even if you get a customer to say yes a hundred times, it doesn’t matter with a high-priced product. This threw me through a loop and taught me that, with today’s customer, the closing process must also be a value building process. And you must have a closing process that causes them to participate. Value building today must include the closing process and can’t be limited presentations of times past. Besides, customers are too smart to consistently respond to the instant reverse close. If you think about it, today’s market is really easier than it seems. You need to change … or listen to what you’ve always been told. The choice is yours. HG Rick Heaston is president of R.A. Heaston and Co., a sales-training and marketing firm. You can reach him at rick@touchpointselling.com. 24 HOUSING GIANTS.8.25.08 www.HOUSINGGIANTS.cOm http://www.housinggiants.com
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