8 Open Secrets to Close the Deal on the First Meeting

Money is never a reason of not buying on spot. It is the lack of fear of losing the ownership. Urgency.

Not knowing the strategic reasons why a sales maneuver is being done, unfortunately leads to not knowing what should be the prospect’s ideal response. The salesman then loses the control of the sales encouter, kissing the sale goodbye.

On the list are things Closers are already doing but don’t really appreciate the rationale of doing it sharply. Thus making this list, the open secrets of on spot close.

📍”A Handshake is not just a courteous gesture. It is also a closing tool.”

This may be modified but this will never be totally omitted in every sales encounter. Discover more the art of bridging hands HERE.

📍 “Cordial gestures are not simply for being hospitable. It is also a decoy for control.”

Never be servile. Let it all appear offhand. Be punctual to choose where to sit. Then, guide them toward the table when they arrive. Choose which corner has least distraction. Orient yourself where the toilet, smoking area and the nearest exit. These are helpful when you need to depressurize them. Give them choices of what to drink. Warm or cold? Giving them two options lets them feel they are in control but actually, since you delimited the choices into two, you are the one dictating.

📍”Pre-pitch talk is not just simply to befriend the prospects. It is more of establishing emotional affinity.”

Never ever start pitching your offer unless you already have an emotional pact with your prospect. You have to be relevant to a specific compelling chapter of their life in order for them to hear what they are listening from you. This is how trust forms naturally. Let them associate you in a part of their life that when they remember it, they also remember you.

Tip: Search for the prospect’s social media account to know more his interests. Use this to befriend them but don’t be obvious, seeming like a stalker. Just lead the pre pitch conversation to the topics you have known that they are interested in. The last issue they post something about (avoid politics, religion and sexuality). The last vacation photo uploaded. The latest video or song they liked.

📍 “Name is not known just to address the prospect. It is use to monologue involvement spiels.”

Corporate – Travel lifestyle of a Closer on Instagram – @johndappercloser

We all learn this from Carnegie’s classic book. Your name is the sweetest word to hear. When the name has more than three syllables, ask how his friends call him. Don’t use sir or ma’am. Simply use first names. Names are so powerful when throwing involvement monologues as you highlight your offer’s benefits. Childhood nicknames are also so effective especially for gratififying spiels of a fixated urge. Yearnings from childhood dictates behavior. Titles boost morale (Doc, Atty. Engr.). Use it when negotiating the price.

📍 “Hearing the prospect’s expectations uses not just the ears. It uses the entire network of the inmost senses as a helpful purchasing barometer.”

Your gut. Your instinct. Maximize it. When you hear what your prospect expects, you can customize the pitch tailored to what they actually need. Hearing them helps you to modulate the kind of approach to use and pick which feature to highlight. Hear what they really want. Hear even what’s not audible. It is stated there what the heart really wants. Grimaces, gestures, eye behavior, silence, warmth (When they try to gulp a glass of water, how they switch seating positions).

When at the end of your pitch you still ask why you have not closed the deal on spot, well it is because you have not done these eight secrets rightly. Still, KEEP TRYING.

📍”A deal is not made with one big Yes. It is formed with a series of preceding small Yeses.”

Small Yeses during the pre pitch talk increase your agreeability. These are precusors to the ultimate Yes, confirm signing on the dotted line. The reason of talking about matters that excite your prospect during the warm up is to collect simple Yeses. Make it a goal to increase your agreeability with a number of at least 10 Yeses or sincere nods before pitching the offer. These are from topics both of you and the prospects were genuinely involved at. Congratulations, You’re halfway to the big Yes.

📍 “Tact is not just choosing the right words. It is also choosing the perfect timing.”

Basic rule is “Adjectives for involvement. Noun for action”. Be ultra sensitive to the effect of every word you say and when is the opportune time to drop it. Reserve synonyms on perfect junctures along your pitch. Use mental pause, laughter and intonations calculatedly. Influence is done with right tact and calibrated spontaneity.

📍 “Only Today Offer (Limited Time Offer) is not imposed. It is availed smoothly when you made a good job on insinuating the fear of loss over the hope of pleasure”

Urgency is the emotion of time. LTO works because of successfully triggering urgency to the prospects. Do not just ask the prospect if they like being an owner. Ask if they like being an owner ON THE DAY. When they fear missing out an offer, it is unnecessary to explain why they have to get the offer on spot. Ask what delays their purchase whenever it is affordable now. Ask what if you can arrange a payment term for them, would they want to start it stat? Compose two on spot offer arrangements as your final close. Money is never a reason of not buying on spot. It is the lack of urgency – the fear of losing the ownership.

It is not enough that you know what to do. You also have to know why the secrets work. That’s the difference between you and the Master Closer. By mastering these secrets, you stop setting the next meeting as a follow-up. The next meeting is set for either an after sales care affair or a pitch for a happy owner’s referral.

Coffee is for Closers | Starbucks Christmas drinks, leather planner to boost your Q4 Sales, 2018 targets

Maximize this season’s purchasing confidence with sweet twists of your prospect’s usual cup of coffee while letting them realize how lovely it is to be an owner of what you are pitching.

It is always exciting to close deals on the last quarter. Consumers, because of year-end bonuses, are bent on owning something they love. Maximize this purchasing confidence with sweet twists of your prospect’s usual cup of coffee while letting them realize how lovely it is to be an owner of what you are pitching. Set the meeting at their nearest Starbucks cafe and get your lay down owners the red cups they deserve.

RED CUPS FOR RED LEADS

The red cups are back and these are for the red leads. Sweet irresistible overtures blinking a yuletide vibe of whopping new accounts on your pipeline. Close on spot at Starbucks! These are for master Closers like you too!

SBX20170602_91158.tif

SAVORY AND SWEET COMPLEMENTS TO YOUR HOLIDAY DRINKS

May it be a slow cooked marinated turkey, herbed egg omelet, slow roasted Christmas ham or a Mexican flavored chicken breast fillet, Starbucks got your Yuletide feast covered. All best with your choice of any Starbucks beverage. A seventeen (17) layers of crêpe with Belgian chocolate cream filling cake is also a new favorite!

Roasted Turkey and Chicken with Bacon on Cranberry Bread — ROASTED TURKEY AND CHICKEN WITH BACON ON CRANBERRY BREAD
(Below clockwise) CHICKEN FAJITA ROLL,
HAM & EGG ON BRIOCHE BUN and
CHRISTMAS HAM, EGG WHITE AND EDAM CHEESE ON CROISSANT BUN

Christmas Ham, Egg White and Edam Cheese Croissant Bun

Chocolate Crepe Cake — CHOCOLATE CREPE CAKE

Hit Your 2018 Sales Goals with Leather-encased Planner

Apart from the leather sleeves that exudes corporate appeal, inside are a stencil ruler to mark important dates and a cleverly-designed calendar that can be folded in a shape of a cup to keep you abreast on your sales performance. May it be naked or sleeved, indeed a motivating and organizing tool to set more sales appointments and scale up more lucrative deals for 2018. Available in “blue and green hues” reminiscent of the calm of the season or the “warm pigments orange” that is as festive as the Kape Vinta card it frames. Which color would you love to own?

TWO WAYS TO OWN IT FOR FREE:

PhP 7,000 single receipt: Bulk purchase of food and other retail items (merchandise, whole bean and Starbucks VIA®, Teavana®) worth PhP 7,000 entitles the customer to one (1) Limited Edition Starbucks Coffee 2018 Planner.
9 + 9 Stickers: Avail of a Starbucks® Christmas Traditions Promo Card from November 2, 2017 to January 8, 2018 for free at any Starbucks store. Collect eighteen (18) stickers, to redeem one (1) Limited Edition Starbucks Coffee 2018 Planner. Nine (9) Holiday Featured Beverages and Nine (9) Any Starbucks Core Handcrafted Beverage of your choice EXCEPT bottled beverages .*Collect stickers from November 2, 2017 to January 8, 2018. Redeem your Limited Edition Starbucks Coffee 2018 Planner until March 8, 2018, at any Philippine Starbucks stores.

“Hot caramel macchiato in a mug please.”

This year’s Starbucks Christmas menu seemly rephrase this usual plea to my barista. Definitely be spending more of the days to Christmas at Starbucks, may it be a sales meeting or a usual “Coffee is for Closers” off-day. For this season, It would be,

“Hot toffee nut crunch latte in the red cup please. And roasted turkey and chicken with bacon on cranberry bread.”

Starbucks Christmas menu is available by November 2 until January 8, 2018 ONLY. To share in the experience, please visit in stores or online at www.starbucks.ph

3 Reversible Mistakes which make your Sales Pitch Less Involving

Not that you have to be flawless, but just never let mistakes sabotage your journey to a lucrative close.

It isn’t a pitch when it isn’t compelling. Despite of the efforts we exert to achieve this, unfortunate days exist when we sit back to our chair after a hardly jockeyed sales presentation asking “Is my pitch not involving enough?” The answer is yes. Chances are, it may be because of these reversible mistakes.

When prospects are hyped, Closers FORGET to shift to a take-away pitch.

Blame it to your sizzle that prospects seem levitating with your offer’s benefits. But too much fantasized gratification wards off the deal. Be in control. Sense it when prospects are “excessively sold”. Stop and proclaim that your offer is not for everyone to own. This isn’t a perfect system unless the owner knows how to make this work properly (not perfectly) to them. Equalize the prospect’s “too ideal” mental picture by siting drawbacks when your offer is used improperly. Drive them back to reality, then ask for the close. It is when they have settled from the hype and still they love owning the offer, that ultimately tests how sold they really are.

When the buying commitment turns flat, Closers NEGLECT to detour to a negative pitch.

This is why episodic check of the buying pulse should be done during your pitch. Intermittent trial closes (of asking when this is affordable would they like to own it?) helps you gauge how willful the prospects are to pay. This helps you calibrate whether their yes is a half meant no or an absolute no.

Reverse the next trial close. Ask “When this is affordable why won’t you own it?” Stop talking. They have to talk first. Wait. Count till 5 seconds. When they react, listen intently. Deal with their true concern then rephrase the reversed trial close.

Reverse the fact-benefit sizzles. Sizzle should sound like you are letting them feel the fear of missing out. Squeeze in the phrase “should have”. Present a feature which prospects won’t enjoy the benefit anymore since the ownership is not for them. Never ever be a pushy presenter. You know your offer’s worth. You know your work’s pride. You know your skill’s calibre. Yes you are an egotistical closer!

Return the course of the pitch to the pro active tone after ample throws of ironic involving spiels. Observe the difference. Modulate then your approach.

When the prospects have heard enough, Closers FAIL to articulate silence.

Mental pause augments understanding. Don’t be a rata-tata-tat. Be a bang! Stop believing that the more features you say, the more sold the prospects would be. This is why you have to do well on the warm up. To identify which among the features they’ll associate their purchase. Always make it a culture to count to five every after blowing a weighted feature and every after asking for a close. Before initiating the handshake. The silence helps them substantiate their appraisal which boosts their confidence on doing the purchase. It crushes the fear of buying instantly. If you have lay out the benefits well and sprinkle your sales techniques suavely in the pitch, you will not be afraid to let them breathe and think on that 5 seconds. Use these seconds too to prepare what will you say when the prospects expresses another “no but tell me more” remark. Aside from mental pauses, you can also make use of therapeutic space at some instances. Deliberately leave them for a while at certain parts of the showroom or play like you’ll be going to the toilet shortly.

It isn’t a pitch when it isn’t compelling.

Anything goes during a sales pitch and that should be an advantage for you as a Closer. It is your job to facilitate the way your prospect perceives the encounter. Closers equalize emotions, balance logic and regulate expectations. These modulations make the presentation involving. Not that you have to be flawless, but just never let mistakes sabotage your journey to a lucrative close. Especially when mistakes, though are dab and unavoidable, but are detectable and downright reversible.

3 Sales Tips to Close a Deal on Your Birthday

Birthday deals are more of the sentimental ones. A close which adds more celebratory vibe to the date of your birth!

The number of birthday celebrations you had over the tenure of your selling career, is a monumental meld in your closing tale. It is a motivating index of how you had gracefully joggled your chronological age and professional age. Are you really making your sales record better as you are getting professionally older? How “sales memorable” were your previous birthdays then? Have you ever handed an official receipt to a prospect with the same month and day that is written in your birth certificate?

Make it a goal. Close a birthday deal as a part of your enthrallment of the day you were born. Several tweaks from the usual non-birthday pitch should be done. Generally, let the prospect know that it is your special day and that you are ecstatic to celebrate it with them at the other side of the sales table.

Make the warm-up easier by ridding off their resistance through self depreciating “hung over” spiel. (BUT you’re not really hung over!) Squeeze in at least 3 more lines at the tail of your intent statement for this spiel. Casually ask a favor to bear with your head ache and several requests of glass of water during the entire meeting. Do not make it sound degrading to your credibility. This is supposed to sound that you are being true and fun that they will be hooked on listening to you until they are signing on the dotted line. Prospects would like you since you are letting them see a human part of yourself, not the salesman you. This is also such a unique conversation starter to befriend the husband. Ask “What is your favorite drink on your birthday party? Ask the wife about her hung over care when the husband gets drunk. Then topics would just vine. After all, In vino veritas, in aqua sanitas!
Trigger more urgency through “since it is my birthday discount” (The fear of missing out.) Offer 2 more percent as a “since it is my birthday” discount. For example, instead of swiftly offering the full 20% allowable discount, start first at 15%. When they haggle, close the deal at 17%. This is reinforcing the emotion of urgency with personal sentiment of celebrating your birthday. The general rule when negotiating is to prelude every concession you drop with the spiel, “since it is my birthday, What if…”

If you really like the offer, and since it is my birthday today, what if I give you two percent more discounts. From 15, you will be saving 17% when you’ll get it today. Everyday is not my birthday. Would you take it? “
Bundle a special after sales care on the deal (Mean it eternally!) Add value to the purchase they made on your birthday by extending your after sales availability to them. Include extended after sales services which you do not usually stretch to other buyers. For example, instead of just giving to them the contacts of the customer service, you could also give to them your email address or your personal mobile number (not just the office number). I even ask them to add me in Facebook or Linked-In. Be sincere and mean this for the rest of your sales tenure. Every time you communicate to these classified buyers, It also whispers a festive reminiscence of your previous birthdays. This even gives you a windfall list of qualified referrals.

Birthday deals do not necessarily have to be the lucrative ones. These are more of the sentimental ones. The deal you have closed on the day you are celebrating your nativity. A close which adds more celebratory vibe to the date of your birth! A happier birthday, Closer!

Denims to Deals: Tricks to rock Denims at work

It is ideal to choose either the raw wash denim or the bleached denim. These washes appear plain and smart. Both finishes don’t have creases, distortions or high contrasting patterns.

Denim has that rugged appeal. An impression which the corporate dress code has stringent restrictions. A punctuation-near to a taboo clause on the human resource handbook. Undoubtedly though, Denim has this intra-occupational charm. Who would not want to mix a denim piece on their wear set for work? How to turn these denim pieces to be appropriate for corporate dealings?

TRICKS

Type of Wash

It is ideal to choose either the raw wash denim or the bleached denim. These washes appear plain and smart. Both finishes don’t have creases, distortions or high contrasting patterns. A Raw denim finish could be blue which mimics the usual navy blue slacks perfect for corporate appeal. These could also be black, brown, any darker tint depending on the dye used. Bleached denim finish on the other hand, is the lighter but still plain versions. From white to light blue, depending on how long the bleaching was done.

Tag it along with Leather

For denims to be more corporately de rigueur, leather would be an ideal accomplice. Remember to filter which piece on your outfit to be the denim. Denim shirt paired with office slacks or a work smart shirt and denim pant in tandem, just don’t over dress a denim then, tuck in. Use a belt and a leather shoes with the same color. Brown leather is perfect for denim. Not the metal studded or the buckled. Try it also with leather shoes with minimal brogue details.

PICKS: SM Lanang Exclusive Denim Preview

Black raw denim with stripes from SM Men store

Shirt hues that rock when paired with denim pant from SM Men store.

The unique appeal of Stand collar shirt from SM Men store would also look nice with your denim pant. Just tuck it in.

The fortification of being a Master Closer is when you have let the prospect sign on the dotted line. Your choice of wardrobe though, affects how people perceive you as a specific kind of breed. Clothing helps a lot on positive first impressions. As to for choosing to strut a Denim, the deal is closed more of HOW you are wearing a carefully picked wash and a not “over denim-ed” look.

How to Arouse Emotions for a Surefire “IT’S-A-YES!” Proposal

The more emotions strategically triggered, the more relevance the offer inflicts to the prospect’s life. Thus, the more value they place to your package. Value which then dictates not anymore as to whether or not they’ll avail your offer, but rather the quality of their paying arrangements to your proposal.

When a novice is weaned from the mock pitch to the first actual sales table battle, I often suggest to treat the whole sales experience as a courtship. Prospects are wooed by a suitor who isn’t servile, without affectation and knows his and his package’s worth.

1. Tease the Hot Button – Identify their passion the soonest you can. Drive the pre-pitch pep talks to the mood which make them verbalize their hobby or the non-work related association they are in. One’s passion is an affect booster. It is the core matter in the warm up.

☝🏼️motivation, advocacy, stuff they cant live without, things they collect.

2. Whisper the Opportune Words – Choose your words so strategically. Hoard a pre set of words for your pitch which then you’ll pick from to be the most suitable to your guest’s profile. There is a specific term in every intensity of an emotion dependent in every shade of behavior.

☝🏼️synonyms, superlatives, words of positive association, connotations, jargons, colloquial terms, technicalities.

READ: Sales Strategies from Reading Crime Novels

3. Pant the Metaphors – This enhances involvement, clarity, agreeability and empathy. Articulate the benefits of the offer with comparisons to things which are familiar to the prospects. This calibrates how relatable the pitch is.

☝🏼️ Simile, symbolism, personification, reckon, equate, compare

4. Indulge in Sizzles – Describe experience by appealing to the human senses. The kind which startlingly creates imagery. When the brain starts to visualize, One’s behavior (choices) stretches to turn the imagination into reality or at least nearest to what’s real.

☝🏼 detail, customize, articulate, pause, gestures, voice, facial expression, eye dynamics, motion.

5. Foreplay with Sob Story – Identification is powerful. It assures the ego of being safe and correct. Making someone see their selves in you increases affinity. It makes them nod. It makes the meeting feels so right. People love their selves and so as someone whom they see their selves like.

☝🏼️ Turning points, similarity, defining moments, coping, common grounds.

READ: Boost Charisma through Sob-Credibility Story

6. Be kinky with Hypotheticals – It’s like a spot psyche quiz so you would know the philosophical facets of the prospect. Dissect and use the answers of the following to intensify effect of emotional triggers. “What if”, “If you were”, “given the chance” “if you could just choose between… Why?, “If you could go back to that time when…”.

☝🏼️Fears, frustrations, austerity, delayed gratification, morals, logic, frugality, survival instincts, defense mechanism.

There is a specific term in every intensity of an emotion dependent in every shade of behavior.

Emotions are denominations of every relationship. The more emotions strategically triggered, the more relevance the offer inflicts to the prospect’s life. Thus, the more value they place to your package. Value which then dictates not anymore as to whether or not they’ll avail your offer, but rather the quality of their paying arrangements to your proposal. Done deal!

READ: How Saying “I LOVE YOU” to Your Prospects Leads to a Sale

5 Classic Sales Movies that Coach You Hard to Close More Sales

Strategically, a watchlist every sales person should replay per year-start.

Your first handshake during the meet and greet is like the director saying “Ahaaaaaction!” It warrants a specific version of yourself who is of course still natural and spontaneous but versatile to the distinctness of the personality of the prospects you are about to make an emotional encounter with. Right then and there, the prospects become both your audience and your co actor. The encounter becomes a movie where you are an actor (A), the writer and the director (D) in one body of a true master Closer. Such, lead me to look for more Sales Tip resources aside from books.

I love reading books. However, a motion picture which graphically shows how specific remarks are executed would be a booster from the spiels you read from texts. The following movies are ranked according to the weight of sales insights I personally appreciated after watching.

5 – THE PRIME GIG, 2000

CLOSER-ACTORS: Ed Harris, Vince Vaughn (D) Gregory Mosher William Wheeler

Penn’s pitch to Evelyn is too involving that their conversation via phone seems like an in person encounter.

I always fantasize a movie that depicts the sales industry I am in; the one-call close selling of Timeshares. This film is the closest to my field thus far. Penny’s (V. Vaughn) first sales career in the early scenes was in a vacation coupon telesales where lines are something every Timeshare closer can relate to.

The main reason though, why this is on this watchlist, is because of how excellently Sob-Credibility story is filmed. Replay the Evelyn Feller Close and this is a perfect case example on how to master using Sob Story to close your deal.

Remember: On WEALTH.

4- TWO FOR THE MONEY, 2005

CLOSER-ACTORS: Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey (D) D.J. Caruso Dan Gilroy

Rewind to this scene, Brandon Lang (McConaughey) closing a bet through a Pina colada.

Take note how the Pina Colada Close is executed here. Learn how knowing your prospect’s favorite stuff drives you towards a smooth sale. Involvement!

This is the only on this list which is almost a Biopic film since some scenes are inspired from true events. The movie does not actually convince me to be worth listing here if Walter’s role is not portrayed by Pacino. His acting prowess makes the coaching more effective to the viewers as he delivers his lines weaved with pitch spiels and winning mindset.

Remember: ON PERSISTENCE

3- WALL STREET, 1987

CLOSER-ACTORS: Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen (D) Oliver Stone Stanley Weiser, Oliver Stone

Replay this scene and learn how to make negotiation sounds like you are making a favor to you prospect and win the haggle. Coined this as “You-brought-my-mother-into-it” Close.

The most awarded film on the list. Douglas’ performance is indeed worth an Academy Best Actor here. His character Gordon Gekko, is 24th in American Film Institute’s 100 Years, 100 Heroes and Villains while his line about Greed is also listed 57th in AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movie Quotes.

Scenes which dramatize sales techniques from Sun Tzu’s Art of War are also entertaining and stimuli for rewinds. Sheen acts perfectly like he is Robin and Douglas is Batman. The only reason why this is not on the 1st rank is, the next two movies have more prospect-closer scenes which Closers would really appreciate. But then with emphasis, this film is with great acting and sales content.

Remember: ON GREED

2- BOILER ROOM, 2000

CLOSER-ACTORS: Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel (D) Ben Younger Ben Younger

That rebuttal for “I have to ask my wife first”.

Tagged as the Wall Street (1987) counterpart of the 2000s (Millennium), Boiler Room perfectly depicts the sales deck scenes of hard selling and overcoming objections.

This film truly shows several scenes which Closers could identify and learn from. You smirk when you recognize a tactic you already did to a prospect while you nod when you learn something new to use on your next pitch. Lots of scenes to rewind. From Vin Diesel’s Benadryl Take Away to Ribisi’s Captain Crunch “I have to ask my wife” rebuttal.

Remember: ON BEING A CLOSER

1-GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, 1992

CLOSER-ACTORS: Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Jack Lemmon (D) James Foley David Mamet

The James Lingk – Opportunity Close monologue by Ricky (Al Pacino) was the most persuasive spiel this sales film had.

The second Pacino-starred movie on the list. Baldwin’s cameo will never be in oblivion. Scenes owned by Lemmon will always be compelling. Ed Harris, who is in the 5th film, Prime Gig did another splendid antagonist Closer role here.

This is a motion picture version of a play script by David Mamet that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. Script is based on Mamet’s experience being previously in a sales workplace, which makes this production appeal so realistic to sales persons specifically to real estate agents. From handling slump, honing a positive mindset, competition, red leads, handling cancellations, undoubtedly, a topnotch in both cinematography and sales coaching material. For me, the most classic among all classic sales films so far.

I’m going to tell you something. Your life is your own. You have a contract with your wife? You have certain things you do jointly? Bond there. And there are other things, and those things are yours. And you needn’t feel ashamed, you needn’t feel that you’re being untrue. Or that *she* would abandon you if she knew. This is *your* life.

Ricky Roma’s haggling spiels after James Lingk declared cancellation of his purchase the day after he signed the dotted line because of his wife’s disapproval. Use this when you overcome a one-legged attendee’s can’t decide objection.

Remember: ON TACTFULNESS

These films serve to me as reinforcements. Concepts from your readings when demonstrated like in the movie scenes turn you to be an effective doer in real life. Flawlessly portray your role in every sales table you have to close a deal on. Be a hall of fame Academy Best Actor throughout the befriending-pitch-objection-rebuttal-closing performance.

Do you have your own sales film watch list too? Comment your favorite sales film.