Many sales people get caught up in the paradigm of “This is who we are, this is what we do, and this is how we can help you” even before they understand their prospect and his needs.

Try approaching your meeting from the client’s point of view.  What day and time works best for them.  What are their needs and concerns.  Listen carefully, and you will be able to gather the information you’ll need for your scheduled “closing” meeting.

Morning seems to be the very best time, and Friday is the best day. Your prospect is ready to take action and produce results. Therefore, they will be more likely to want to take action and sign the deal.  On Fridays people want to get things off their plate, so they are more likely to make a decision and not ponder over the weekend. So, make sure you have laid all of the ground work before your “closing” meeting.

Stop and ask yourself, What questions do I need to ask of Mr./Ms. Prospect first?”  “What research should I do before I set the meeting time and day?” Once you get comfortable with being the person who asks lots of probing questions, you can focus on your closing strategies.

When closing a deal, do not use the standard watered‐down phrases of ʺSo what do you think?ʺ or ʺSo how do you feel about that?ʺ Instead, make sure you have set up in advance what the goal of your time together is. That way you can refer to the agreed upon goal in your closing. For example, “John, if we are able to help you develop stronger leaders, would you be able to sign on that today; or who else would we need to have involved?”   If you do not have all the deal makers at the table, it is best to suspend the conversation until you do.

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