17 Highly-Guarded Strategies to Close Every Sale – Strategy #15: Take Follow-Up to the Next Level

Thank you cards. You must send out thank you cards. Preferably a handwritten thank you card instead of an e-card, because people get bombarded with e-mails. This is something that I do regularly in my business to thank people for their time and consideration. It’s not enough to just sign your name to some random thank you card. Take just a few moments to actually write the person’s name and a short blurb thanking them for their time, consideration or whatever it was that they did for you. You must do this even if the person did not invest in your product. Remember, the key is to build long-term relationships.

I also suggest that you go online and invest in a birthday card system. You can actually send birthday cards, thank you cards, and holiday cards to your entire database of clients. It’s that little bit of extra that makes you extraordinary and stick out from your competition. Your clients remember these added touches when they are in the market for your product or have a referral.

Strategy #15 Champion Tip: Send out thank you cards just to let your clients know that you really do appreciate the time that they invested with your business.

17 Highly-Guarded Strategies to Close Every Sale – Strategy #11: The Opening Million Dollar Question

I’ve already shared a little bit of this strategy with you, and many of you have seen me teach this live at boot camps. It is so crucial. Close your sales presentation with an open ended, positive question. Let me break that down for you before I get to the million dollar question.

Open-ended means that you are stating a question in a way that it is going to encourage a full answer. You aren’t going to allow your potential customer to get away with saying something like no, yes, uh-huh or any other answer that doesn’t give the opportunity to know exactly what they are thinking about your product, service, business, etc. This type of question also clearly lets the business prospect know that you are finished with your presentation, and it’s their turn to ask questions or voice concerns.

Let me give you a few examples for those of you that sell real estate: “John and Christie, what did you like best about the home?” do you see how that question empowers the buyer to not only answer the question fully, but also to focus on the positive things that they like about the house first? What you are doing is you are extracting, developing, and building from them a positive response. What if you would have said this instead: “John and Christie, what did you think about the home?”

That’s a horrible question! Why? Because most people “think” negative. You never want to ask anyone what they “think” about your product, service, business or whatever your selling. Those are weak words and don’t empower the buyer to do anything other than to complain.

After you ask the open-ended, positive question, you just listen to their response and then build off of that response to handle their questions and concerns. I already let the cat out of the bag in which it is likely obvious to you that the real million dollar closing question is “What did you like best about it?” You will just replace the “it” with whatever you are selling.

The next few strategies are short and sweet and tie together so make sure that you are taking notes and not skipping ahead on the reading.

Strategy #11 Champion Tip: Always use open-ended positive questions at the end of your presentation to empower your buyer to answer the question fully and in a positive manner.

THAT LITTLE BIT EXTRA

The “little bit extra” is a very powerful concept to put into practice today in every aspect of your life. The difference between being ordinary and being extraordinary is that little bit EXTRA. The little bit extra is what separates average performers from CHAMPIONS!

In a sales process, the little bit extra is that one extra follow-up call, that extra sincere thank-you or the extra little bit of energy that you put into the presentation of your business. This will separate you from your competition. You can either go through the motions of your business or you can give that little bit extra in order to cement yourself in the mind of your potential customer. We all can relate to purchasing a product/service from someone who just gave you a little bit extra attention than their competitor did and THAT is the reason we bought from THEM!

When I personally coach someone, one of my key strategies is to move them to become champions in their field. One of the easiest ways is to show them the value of what a little extra eye contact with their prospects or customers brings. You need to look your prospect or customer directly in their eyes when you are presenting your business! This drives into them your confidence and conviction about what you and your product/service have to offer them. When I coach people, I tell them that the eye contact strategy alone will take them two steps ahead of their competition.

Remember, people will feed off your confidence from the look in your eyes. As you progress in your journey towards fulfilling your WHY, you need to constantly give that little extra! The true sign of a champion-to-be is just when it seems impossible for him/her to give that extra push; they dig deep down and give that little bit extra to fulfill their WHY! When I speak to groups, I train them to have the mindset of always giving a little bit more than their competitor. Over the long run, it will pay off big! A small improvement over a long period of time will produce outstanding results.

Now that you know the benefit of giving that little bit of extra effort, you need to ask yourself a question…”What can I do today and every day with a little more effort to move me to the champion level in my field?” You need to realize someone will be the champion in your chosen endeavor. Let me ask you a question, “Why not you?”

A FEW WORDS OF APPRECIATION

This week I am going to write about one of the most powerful yet simple “pebbles of action” towards building your mountain of success. This one action step will separate you from the crowd and empower you to develop a network of people, who have a high regard of respect for you. The action is simply using a few words of appreciation. The words “thank you” are simple, but at the same time extremely powerful!

I wrote in a past issue that the difference between ordinary and EXTRAordinary is just a little bit of EXTRA. Well, as I meet people and do business, I always make an extra-effort to say “thank you” by way of e-mail, voicemail or send a card in the mail. People always comment how much they appreciated the “thank you”. In these days of such hectic schedules and people running all over the place and trying to get ahead, sometimes we forget the simplest things in life are the most powerful and rewarding. You need to think to yourself about a time someone sent you a thank you and how much it meant to you. Always remember to “Do unto others as you would have done unto you!”

After you finish a meeting make a note to yourself to send a timely thank-you. Simple actions reap big rewards! I personally like to leave a voicemail message or send an e-mail message with the subject line “Thank You”. Life is a journey and as you progress, the key is to establish a reputation as one who appreciates others. People will always feel comfortable to introduce you to one of their contacts knowing your past pattern has been one of professionalism and respect. You need to realize that your most notable achievements in life will usually be the result of someone introducing you to one of his or her contacts.

From this day forward, always take a little pebble of action in order to build your mountain of success! “Thank you” is a fantastic place to start! I will start the ball rolling by thanking YOU, the readers of this manual. I truly appreciate your time and testimonials about how we have been able to help in your mission in Life.

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT OF THANKSGIVING

As I was thinking about my article to write this week, I decided to speak about the entrepreneurial spirit of Thanksgiving. I would like to pay a special thanks to all of the entrepreneurs of our era who have paved the way for us to live in such a wonderful world. While celebrating this type of Thanksgiving, we need to give Thanks to all the special people who had the dreams to invent, discover and explore all the wonders we experience everyday. Let us never take for granted and fully appreciate all of the work those people have done over the years and all the future visionaries who will shape the way of the future.

As part of this Thanksgiving, we all should put into practice the “Attitude of Gratitude” in our daily plan. As we act in the attitude of gratitude, our results in life will change for the better. As you are building your business and designing your life, practice the Attitude of Gratitude and people will listen with more of open-mind because they feel from you a sense of respect – which is very powerful! The Attitude of Gratitude is the little bit of extra that will move you from excellent to the outstanding level in your field of endeavor. I would highly suggest beginning right now to take on the enhanced attitude of gratitude and your results will increase dramatically. Begin to truly internalize the meaning of the words “Thank You” and watch the results of your new passion for The Attitude of Gratitude begin to prosper. As I always say, a small improvement over a long period of time will produce outstanding results!

Today, I challenge you to integrate the Attitude of Gratitude in your daily life and begin to reap the rewards of your Thanksgiving!