Who's Really Closing Who? 3 Ways That Customers Close You!

Every call ends in a close – but is it you closing the customer or them closing you with a reason they can’t proceed?

In this episode, we explore the subtle tactics buyers use to steer sales conversations, including indifference, strategic timing and the influence of information gatherers. By understanding these hidden strategies, sales professionals can refine their approach, overcome objections and boost their success rates:

Key takeaways from this episode:

• How buyers use indifference to stall or deflect decisions
• The role and impact of information gatherers in the buying process
• Why timing can make or break your pitch
• Practical techniques to handle price objections with confidence

Don’t miss this episode – and stay tuned for the next one, where we’ll explore more effective closing strategies.

Explore resources, insights, and tools tailored to support your team's success and strategic growth at realitytraining.com.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:14

Hello there. I'm going to start this episode with a quote from a film called Boiler Room, which came out in the year 2000. And this is a quote from a character called Jim Young, who is speaking to the new recruits of a stock broking firm and he says this and there is no such thing as a no sale call. A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you on a reason he can't. Either way a sale is made. The only question is who is going to close, you or him?

Speaker 2 0:53

Lovely, and we are going to dedicate this episode to three things that the customer does. That absolutely embodies what Bob has kicked off with. So let's just go. Bigger picture you are making your sales face-to-face, you are making your sales on the phone. You're using Zoom, google, meet, teams, whatever. It doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 1:16

The customer's job, whether they're a B2B customer or a B2C consumer, is to not be too keen because, less and less with the advent of more efficient marketing and purchasing and in a post-lockdown world, I believe more and more can be bought, with the knowledge of the buyer increasing and salespeople, unless they're good and add value, they're becoming less valuable. So one of the things the buyer will do is they will have an air of indifference. So, number one, indifference, indifference to the product or something. Yeah, it's on the radar, we're looking at it, but there might be other things we're doing. So you thought this is a really essential meeting to sell them 200 laptops, but actually we may not actually do this. We might stick with what they've got. We might do it next year. It's not that important. So there's a kind of general indifference taking place.

Speaker 1 2:09

So the customer's close in that instance is that because they've acted in an indifferent manner throughout the conversation, it's very easy for them to maintain that level of indifference, so they can say, well, I'm really not that bothered about it and therefore I'm not going to buy it. And so because they've maintained that throughout, that's how they have closed you on a reason not to buy.

Speaker 2 2:37

And what we're trying to tell you is that that is their job and it may not be the whole story. They don't want to tell you they're so keen because if they're so keen they may not get the whole story. They don't want to tell you they're so keen because if they're so keen they may not get the best price. If I'm a bit indifferent, maybe you'll take money off, maybe you'll improve my terms, maybe you'll come and visit me and deliver it to me, whatever it might be. So that's number one. The second thing is couple, and again it could be two people. You're selling to a business or a couple, a married couple or a partnership, and they simply say, okay, yeah, just so you know from the outset, it's my husband, who's far more interested in this than I am. I'm really the gatherer of the information. He can't make the call, he's busy, he's tied up, and I will release him after the call and I'm just. You know, I'll feed it back, but I don't want you being a salesperson with me.

Speaker 1 3:29

Now, I think that's quite an amusing one, and it happens in every possible scenario. What you're doing as the buyer is deferring responsibility for anything. So you're essentially saying that I'm a minion gathering information which I then take to the person who has the power of the pen to sign off something. And that's actually really good, because it means you're concocting a kind of a nice backstory that is going to allow you to back out of the sale at exactly the right moment, and you've got it already prearranged. And as a salesperson, that's a very hard thing to deal with, because you can't say to the person whoa, whoa, whoa, you didn't mention this person before, and what's going on here? You have to go along with it and maintain your level of geniality, even though they've just thrown this at you out of nowhere.

Speaker 2 4:19

Yes, that's the point, you don't need to drop your enthusiasm, your kindness, your grace. You can continue to ask questions and be interested, because there may be a facade and you're working behind that facade?

Speaker 1 4:33

Yeah, absolutely it is a facade. I mean it's used as a blocker, even if they're really keen to buy, because I don't want to buy now. I might want to buy later, but I don't want to buy now. Definitely, I'm going to use this lovely concocted additional person as a very good reason why I can't do it.

Speaker 2 4:51

It'd be quite funny if you're on a database and go. It's interesting. I've got you down here as just living alone and there is no more. You're a miss. Yes, I created the imaginary partner to put you off.

Speaker 3 5:09

Welcome to the Reality of Sales Training, where we tackle the challenges you face in sales head on. At Reality Training, we understand that closing deals isn't always easy, but with the right training it can be. Our tailored programs give your team the confidence and clarity they need to excel, Ready to solve your sales challenges. Visit us at realitytrainingcom.

Speaker 2 5:39

Now the final one is timing.

Speaker 2 5:41

So, one of the things that salespeople are trying to do is hit their quota, hit their targets and get the sales in now, hit the target this month. The buyer doesn't care about that, and one of the things they'll do is, even though let's just say it's a spring-like purchase, it's got a sort of seasonal landing point. They might say, well, do you know what we might even do this March 20, 27, 26, whatever, it's not that essential, we get it done there. They'll play down the relevance of timing, and consumers and businesses do this for two reasons they think they'll offer me something more to get it done within a timeframe that suits them, so I'm bound to get a discount. I also might get a lot more care and attention. If I have previously said I don't want it for a year and then I become a customer who has it this year, they'll look after me more. So, again, may not be true. It's part of the job to pretend it's not as urgent for me as it is for you.

Speaker 1 6:34

Well. This reminds me of something else we always talked about. As a salesperson, your job is to help the person understand that they should buy your product or service. They should also buy it from you. So you're selling yourself and your personality, but you're also selling them on why they should buy it now, so that they don't have a chance to bring in this timing-related objection. So you can preempt some of these things by saying look, here's a fantastic product. You really need it Absolutely. The desire to buy this product because it's so brilliant. Incidentally, look at me, I'm this wonderfully nice, eloquent, interesting and trustworthy person. Great, I like him. And also, you must buy it now for all of these reasons, so you can't use that as an objection. So I think that's a nice way to think about it. Why should the customer buy this now?

Speaker 2 7:27

So they might be closing down the conversation or closing you on. Why they shouldn't have it which takes us back right to the start of this short episode is that someone will make a sale or the thing will be closed down. You're trying to keep it open so that they reflect and have the second call, or however many calls it takes for you to make the sale.

Overcoming Objections and Closing Sales

Speaker 1 7:47

Now, some people will be saying well, hang on a minute. What about customers who say it's too expensive? Well, that's related to price. They may well think it's too expensive, but, expensive or not, regardless of the price, if the timing's not right for them, they're not going to buy it. If the person who they think is in charge of the decision isn't ready to do it, they're not going to buy it. And if they've acted all indifferently, it doesn't matter how much it is. I can still use that as a way out if I need to. So too expensive is just one particular objection. It doesn't mean they don't want it, they're just questioning the price.

Speaker 2 8:22

It's normally a really good one, because they're not saying I don't want it, don't want it now and I'm not the decision maker. It's really the proving of the value is your work, which arguably might be easier than these three.

Speaker 1 8:34

Now we've added this episode in about how the customer closes you, because I think it's important to think about that, because you're going to put the phone down or finish a meeting, or finish a web chat or whatever your channel is, and you won't have made a sale and you'll think, well god, that was annoying, why was that? It's probably these things we've been talking about on this call, and in our next episode we're going to come back to some of the great ways that you can close the customer, some clever ways to help you do it, and that will help balance the situation. So we'll see you on the next one.

Speaker 2 9:09

Thanks for tuning in to the Reality is Sales Training. Thank you.