As a business owner, if you aren’t making sales then you aren’t making money. You can have the best skill set in the world, but if you don’t know how to sell it, then it really doesn’t matter. That’s why it’s imperative that you learn to improve your sales closing rate.
If you don’t like sales, don’t worry. I actually used to hate sales. Through training and practice I was able to improve my sales closing rate to the point where I now love doing sales calls. I actually find them fun! Here are some tips you can use to improve your sales closing rate.
Know who your ideal client is.
The first step in improving your sales closing rate is to know who your ideal client is. This will save you a lot of headaches because you’ll be able to reverse engineer the sales process. It will also help you cut sales conversations short if they don’t meet certain criteria. You’ll also want to know what your end goal is.
Address common objections through your marketing.
Business owners can improve their sales closing rate by addressing objections through content. For example, one common objection we all hear is “I can’t afford it” or “It’s too expensive.”
We already know it’s coming, so our job is to address it before having a sales conversation. In my case, I’ll send emails showing the ROI my clients get. People can’t resist it when they see someone spent $2,000 but landed a client worth $15,000 as a result.
Before creating the market, you’ll have to figure out who your ideal client is and what their objections may be. I spend a lot of time teaching my students and clients how to do this because it really works.
Shift your mindset.
I recently had to help a coaching client in shifting her mindset about sales. Up until recently, she would approach sales calls as if she was being interviewed for a job. The reality is business owners are the ones doing the interviewing, not the other way around.
What do I mean by this? As I’ve previously mentioned, your time is the most valuable thing you have. That means you can’t waste it on clients who are not ideal. That’s why sales calls are really about determining whether or not the prospect is a good fit for your business.
This one shift also helps boost confidence which is what people buy anyway. If you’re confident, you can drastically improve your sales closing rate.
Set up systems to weed out the duds.
Do you want to know my number one secret for improving your sales closing rate? It’s making sure I don’t waste my time with duds.
For the most part, by the time people get on the phone with me for a consult they are ready to pay me. That’s because I have an application process in place that only allows people who have a certain score access my calendar.
Granted, sometimes a dud will get through – usually because they weren’t truthful on the application – but since I’m clear on who my ideal client is I can usually tell in about five minutes and cut the conversation short.
This is also something I teach my students and it’s helped them dramatically improve their own sales closing rates.
Final Thoughts
By improving your sales closing rate, you can increase your business revenue. This means you worry less about money so you can continue focusing on earning more of it.
