Don’t take rejection personally: Now that you understand the prospects fear of failure, keep in mind your prospect is not rejecting you.
Expect rejection: This doesn’t mean to be negative. It does contradict the need for confident expectations. Just realize that usually a sales call will end with the prospects refusal or semi-refusal. What is a semi-refusal? When you are offered objections such as, "I need to think about it," "Ill get back to you later," "I need to discuss this with someone else," and so on.
On the average, more than 80 percent of all new home sales takes place after the salesperson makes five to seven closing attempts. In other words, you must ask the prospect to own your product or service, at minimum, five to seven times before he buys. What’s surprising is that 50 percent of all sales calls end without the salesperson attempting to close even once.
This means you should expect and anticipate the prospect to say "no" or to offer a semi-refusal at least five to seven times before he says yes. By anticipating the possibility of refusal, you are able to plan your closing.
Script, memorize and rehearse the closing techniques: You learn to close by having a planned technique. All closes are scripted, memorized, and then adapted to the individual situation.
The average salesperson closed poorly because he does not take the time to learn the techniques. And he lacks the ability and skill to ask for the sale the five to seven times without giving up.
We have all heard the term "art and science." Closing is a very specific art and science. Yet, you must understand you can never practice the art without first mastering the science. Memorization of the technique is the science. After you memorize and internalize word for word, you practice the art.
Consider a professional actress, for instance. On screen her performance appears effortless. But what is unseen is the scripting and practice that occurs prior to the performance. First she must memorize her script word for word. Then only after mastering the "science," the script, is she able to perform.
Remember, closing is skill, and with any skill such as acting riding a bicycle, or playing a musical instrument, it can be mastered by practice and rehearsal. As you commit the techniques to memory, you free your mind to appropriately respond to your prospects questions and objections.
Comfort your fears: Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "Do what you fear most and the death of fear is certain." For many, asking for the order once, much less the average five to seven times, creates insurmountable fear. Yet your obstacles to closing will melt away, if instead of trembling, you boldly approach your prospect. Expect to feel uncomfortable as you first develop your skills. It’s natural to feel uneasy doing something you have not mastered. Through experience you will gain the strength, courage, and confidence to face your fear, and it will fall aside when you make up your mind to take action-ask for the order and close the sale.
