Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9 pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with James Muir. James is the author of The Perfect Close: The Secret to Closing Sales – The Best Selling Practices & Techniques for Closing the Deal that shows sales and service professionals a clear and simple approach that increases closed opportunities and accelerates sales to the highest levels while remaining genuinely authentic. Combining the latest industry drivers with the most recent ideas and best practices James helps sales and services organizations take sales performance to a higher level while remaining genuine and authentic to their value system. For more information, visit: www.puremuir.com.

SmallBizLady: HOW DO TRADITIONAL CLOSING EFFORTS FALL SHORT?

James Muir: 90% of closing methods are manipulative and damage trust. In most cases they have been proven to be counter-productive. That is, they actually hurt your chances of making the sale.  One study tested the 6 top closure techniques & results showed all damaged the basis of trust. Predictably, the most manipulative techniques damaged trust the most.

SmallBizLady: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BIGGEST MYTHS IN CLOSING?

James Muir: There are many. I cover 7 in my book:

1. Closing Gambits (Techniques) Work
2. Always Be Closing
3. Closing Is the Same for Both Small Sales & Large Sales
4. Closing Gambits Show You Want The Business
5. Customers are happier after making a decision (so manipulating them is in their own best interests)
6. The Sale Will Close Itself
7. Salespeople fear asking for commitment.

The top two of these would have to be: #2. Always Be Closing and #6. The Sale Will Close Itself.

SmallBizLady: WHY IS “ALWAYS BE CLOSING” A MYTH?

James Muir: Thanks to Alec Baldwin we all know the ABC’s of selling – Always Be Closing. Unfortunately, science has proven that wrong. The truth is, past the first attempt there is a negative correlation between closing frequency & sales call success. In the Huthwaite study we even know how much less effective it is – it’s 33% worse.

SmallBizLady: WHAT ABOUT THE IDEA THAT THE SALE WILL CLOSE ITSELF?

James Muir: I personally l fell for the myth that “The Sales Will Close Itself.” This has been studied and sales generally do not close themselves. In fact, statistically, the problem of not asking for ANY commitment is much bigger than asking for commitment in the wrong way. The percentage of encounters where salespeople and professionals never ask for any form commitment ranges from 50% – 90% depending on the industry. The average across all industries seems to be about 60%.

Neil Rackham of Huthwaite says it this way – “Traditional closing techniques are not the best way to obtain commitment from a customer in a major sale. But as we’ve seen, doing nothing isn’t effective either. The sale doesn’t close itself.”

SmallBizLady: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ADVANCE, A CONTINUATION AND A CLOSE?

James Muir: I use closing in a generic sense & I use Neil Rackham’s definitions in the book. Rackham defines them this way:

                Closing – “Anything that puts the customer in a position involving some kind of commitment.”

                Advance – “Progressing the sale forward in a little way.”

                Continuation – “Where the sale will continue yet no specific action has been agreed upon by the customer to move forward.”

Not knowing the difference between an Advance and a Continuation can make a big difference in sales success.

SmallBizLady: IS THERE A KEY TO CLOSING, AND IF SO, WHAT IS IT?

James Muir: If there’s a key to closing/advancing the sale, it’s in preparation. It’s important to go into any interaction with a few outcomes in mind. We want to consider what we’d like to happen as a result of this interaction. Salespeople should have an ideal advance and a couple of alternative advances.

Stephen Covey fans will recognize this as Habit #2 – “Begin with the End in Mind.”  With these thought-out advances it’s very simple to ask The Perfect Close questions.

SmallBizLady: WHAT ARE THE TWO QUESTIONS OF THE PERFECT CLOSE?

James Muir: There are 5 variations of The Perfect Close so let’s start with the basic one first. The first question is “Does it make sense to X?” Where “X” is your ideal advance. There are only two possible outcomes: Yes or no.

If the client says “yes” great! You just got your ideal advance with just one question!

If they say “no”, then we use question 2 which is: “What’s a good next step then?” With that question 90% of the time clients will suggest a very logical next step to advance your sale. That paces things perfectly for that client.

SmallBizLady: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE OTHER VARIATIONS?

James Muir: With the other variations we can improve things even further. This is where we use the alternative advances you planned. Two of the variations that use these are the “fall-back” & the “add-on”. With these instead of just asking “what’s a good next step?” We suggest one of the alternates you planned.  For example: “Other client’s at this stage typically do Y. Does it make sense to do Y?” This can be used to add or fall-back.

SmallBizLady: HOW IS THE PERFECT CLOSE APPROACH BETTER THAN TRADITIONAL APPROACHES?

James Muir: The big thing is that “Does it make sense?” is not the same as “Will you buy?”

At its core “Does it make sense?” is a *timing* question not a closing question. Customers can’t say “no I will not do X” because we did not ask them to take any action. We only asked if it made sense at this time.

Because of that regardless of the answer “Does it make sense?” leaves us on emotionally higher ground than any other commitment question. This lets us travel at the pace the customer is ready for. Customers feel more in control of the process and see you as a facilitator and consultant.

SmallBizLady: HOW IMPORTANT IS MINDSET IN EXECUTING THE PERFECT CLOSE?

James Muir: The technique is cool but the mindset is even more important.  Intent matters more than technique. I devote all of chapter 3 to this in my book.

The psychology of your intent matters a great deal. This is because in selling situations customers weigh intent more than competency. If customers feel your intent is flawed, in most cases the show is off. But if your intent is good customers will continue giving you opportunities.

For this reason, it’s important that salespeople come into selling opportunities with a service mentality.

SmallBizLady: HOW SHOULD SALESPEOPLE BE THINKING ABOUT SALES THEN?

James Muir: Whenever we’re taking on something new or challenging we all want a coach to help us move forward at our own pace. Clients are engaging us because they want us to help them make positive change. If they could accomplish that on their own the would have done it already. They are expecting us to be that coach. They want us to guide them through each little commitment it takes to achieve their goals.

That makes selling less about advancing the sale and more about coaching and leadership. Most salespeople can do a lot better job of coaching and serving clients than they are doing today.

My challenge to them is to be a better coach, be a better problem-solver, be a better teacher, so you can serve your clients better.

SmallBizLady: WHAT FINAL THOUGHTS OR ADVICE WOULD YOU OFFER TO THOSE SEEKING TO IMPROVE THEIR SALES?

James Muir: I would leave them with this: Sales is service. Once you adopt that mindset all pressure and awkwardness dissolves. Sales as a whole needs reframing—it’s not about selling a thing so much as it’s about serving another human. When we live that ideal everything becomes much more fulfilling for both us and our customers.

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