The Myth of Closing
|
I wish I had a dollar for every time a lawyer took me aside and said, very confidentially, "I really am a good salesman, but I could use a little help with closing the sale. Any tips you can give me?" Maybe they’ve been reading too many "Ten Tips to Effective Selling" airline magazine articles, but lawyers, like many other professionals, spend an inordinate amount of time and energy worrying about closing the sale. They miss one of the most important truths of successful selling: Just as in the law, the secret to a successful outcome is in the preparation—the setup. Whether preparing to do battle in the courtroom or the boardroom, successful lawyers know the importance of preparation. This includes understanding the substantive issues to be contemplated as well as the politics and personalities involved. Yet, when preparing to match wits in sales competition, most lawyers seem to suffer a form of strategic and tactical amnesia, abandoning preparation altogether and narrowing their focus prematurely on closing. Professional salespeople know that, if the setup or preparation is done correctly, closing is easy, almost a non-event. Rainmakers seem to sense this; they know that they can’t rush the sale. Conversely, poor preparation and setup guarantee failure in selling just as surely as in court—no matter how good the closing technique or argument. Rushing to judgment in the courtroom often means a negative verdict. It is likewise in selling. Whenever sales professionals call me at the 11th hour to ask for help saving an endangered sale, I start by having them describe each event and discussion from Day One of the opportunity. Invariably, the "closing problem" turns out to be a breakdown in early stage preparation: an important question wasn’t asked or a red flag was ignored. It’s always something they already know how to do , but didn’t. They cut an important corner on the way to sales success. OK, so how does it work? Contrary to what some people fear, closing does not mean coercing the unconvinced or the unwilling into doing what we want them to do. Such an approach is long discredited even among exploiters, and never had any standing among professionals. Also, contrary to popular myth, closing does not occur at a decision point. Reluctance to close arises from the perception that it is the Moment of Truth when the prospect decides to accept or reject the sales proposition. Moments of Truth are risky: If the prospect says "No," our effort was wasted. No wonder most untrained salespeople devise so many ways to avoid closing. Ironically, the feared Big Decision is comfortably and effectively avoided by asking for a number of little decisions, i.e., getting agreement and confirmation as each point is established, just a trial lawyer does when examining a witness. A professional salesperson closes only when the prospect has acknowledged that the salesperson has made his or her "case." Then the salesperson "concludes," along with the prospect, at the only sensible course is to buy, just as a lawyer establishes a series of related points which, taken together, makes his or her conclusion inescapable. A lawyer makes a closing argument or statement only after making the case and convincing the jury to "buy" his or her interpretation of the evidence. Even in the simplified model below ("A Brief Primer on Professional Selling), you can see that selling draws on the very skills that made you a successful lawyer, and that closing is merely the wrap-up after we have agreement on the validity of a course of action. Watch successful rainmakers. You never see the expected deep breath and shifting of gears as they move in for a "kill." Instead, they simply ask the client to deliver the relevant documents so the firm can begin working on the new matter. There is no need to make closing a separate event. It’s merely a confirmation of the agreement already reached. Closing is an important part of the selling process, just as making the summation or final argument is in the law. But, as in the law, any argument will fail without careful and thoughtful preparation. In today’s highly competitive legal marketplace, what lawyer can afford to squander even one selling opportunity? A Brief Primer on Professional Selling
|