Using
the Summary Close
There are times
throughout the sales
process when it helps to help the customer catch up with the
existing situation in order to move to the next step. The next step
isn’t always a closed sale. It may be a next appointment or a commitment
to evaluate a product. Simply put, the next step is a forward
move in the sales cycle that causes
the customer to move closer to
purchasing your product.
Summary closes
allow you to proceed to “the next step.” They allow you to do three
things via a
three step process:
Step One: Reconfirm your customer’s needs.
You restate concerns or issues and repeat them
back to the customer.
Step Two: Restate FABs that address those needs.
In a way, you are reminding the customer of how your product/service/company
can alleviate that particular
concern or need.
Step Three: State a course of action. This
is the catalyst that allows you to move to the next step of the
sales cycle. Rather than leaving
things hanging and not
making any progress, you tell the customer where you would like
to go from there.
Here is an example of how the summary
close can be used to get a customer to
commit to a product trial.
Step One: “You had expressed a concern
about our product’s compatibility with your existing systems.”
Step Two: “We then talked about our product’s backwards
compatibility that allows it to function with your other software.
This will minimize
upgrade costs and compatibility issues.
Step Three: “What I’d like to do is have our technical
sales team contact
you to have a pre-sales consultant set up a product trial next
week. What would be a good day to have them call you?”
Another example provides an idea of
to use a summary close to set up an appointment:
Step One: “Earlier, you had mentioned
that the need for flexible payment terms was required when
selecting a vendor.”
Step Two: “We agreed that our finance
department would work with you to come up with payment options and
financing to make a larger purchase more palatable.
Step Three: “I’d like to come back next Tuesday
with one of our analysts so we can start exploring
those terms together. Would this same time, next Thursday work
for you?”
Finally, here is an example of how the
summary close can be used to
close a sale:
Step One: “During the past week, you
had requested that we ensure packaging for each unit is provided.”
Step Two: “We came to an agreement to include packaging
if your company was able to place an order for 5,000 units. This
would allow you to receive a product that is ready to sell in time
for the Christmas shopping season.”
Step Three: “Shall we go ahead and draw
up the paperwork to have everything shipped and delivered by August
31st?”
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