There’s no sale without a close. Keep it simple and professional with these classic sales closing techniques.

However much time you’ve spent nurturing leads and pitching your product or service, if the end result isn’t a close, you’ll have come up short for your efforts. Naturally, that kind of pressure can build anxiety. The good news is that there are time-tested sales closing techniques that can improve the likelihood that your hard work culminates in a signature on the dotted line.

If that last statement has you thinking about cringe-worthy salesperson tactics of a used car dealer, fear not. The most effective sales closing techniques won’t leave you feeling like you’ve conned someone into something. In fact, they should leave you feeling the opposite—that you’ve helped someone find a solution to a problem they have, whether business or personal. A successful close should leave you feeling confident, not crooked.

The psychology of selling

Most salespeople know that selling is as much about psychology as it is about business. Successful sales begin with establishing relationships, but even when a prospect trusts you, they may hesitate to take the plunge when closing time comes. That’s why sales closing techniques are such an important part of the salesperson’s toolbox.

The following five established and proven sales closing techniques all but guarantee an increase in numbers. Remember, though, that many of these take time and practice to master, but once you get the hang of them, you’ll see what a difference they can make.

---

See what a difference the right CRM can make for your sales career. Schedule a free demo today and to see how we can help you.

---

5 Sales closing techniques you can start using right away

1. Assume you’ve already closed

One of the more proactive sales closing techniques is to preemptively assume that you’re going to close the sale. This method works in two ways. The first is that it gives you an air of confidence when you walk into the sales meeting, and people are generally more likely to succeed when they feel confident.

The second stems from the first: If you seem confident in the close of the sale, your prospect may as well. People are drawn to confidence and positivity. They are more likely to give their money to people who demonstrate these traits. Assuming you’ve closed the deal from the beginning actually has the effect of boosting the prospect’s confidence in you, which makes them more likely to buy.

2. The open-ended close

The open-ended close is another psychological trick which either results in a close or in obtaining more information about what would lead to a close. It works by asking an open-ended question, such as, “Do you feel like this product is something that would be of use to you?” If the answer is, “yes,” sale closed. If not, you have a platform to ask for more information.

This is different from asking for the sale directly. If you do that and the answer is, “no,” then you have to ask why they aren’t buying, which isn’t the same as asking why a product or service doesn’t meet a need. The latter puts a prospect less on the defensive.

3. The personal close

Sales is about relationships. If you have good relationships with people, they will often find a reason to buy from you. In this case, the close is the result of your reputation and established relationship with a prospect. If they trust you, they’ll buy from you.

Just be careful with this one as it can get a little murky when you’re selling to people you consider friends. Don’t sell them things they don’t need, and likewise, don’t sell yourself short on your profits.

4. Sum it up

One of the most common sales closing techniques is to simply sum up the products or services that you’ve discussed. Putting all the information into a succinct summary is like collecting all of the products sold and putting them into a single box for a prospect to look at and see what they’ve gained. This technique makes customers excited about what they’re getting, and thus streamlines the close.

5. Reverse psychology

This last one is a little more challenging, but it can be very effective when you’ve got a prospect who’s on the fence. The idea is that people tend to want what they can’t have. If a customer seems to like a product, but isn’t sold on the price, remove a feature or component of the product from the table. Doing so not only diminishes a customer’s concerns about price (since price would presumably drop), but it also makes the customer want the original offer. No one likes to be sold to, but no one like to have something taken away, either.

---

See what a difference the right CRM can make for your sales career. Schedule a free demo today and to see how we can help you.

---

Do you have favorite closing techniques? What tends to work best for you? Share your experiences in the comments below.