All steps of the selling process ultimately lead to the closing of the sale since it provides the tangible result for the salesman in the form of purchases made by the prospects. Therefore, every salesman aims at closing the sale successfully.
However, not all selling propositions meet their logical consequences. Some of them are unsuccessful due to some reason or the other. Some of the important reasons of failure or unsuccessful closing are as follows:
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1. Wrong Attitude:
Most often, the mental attitude of the salesman considerably dictates the success or failure of the salesman in closing sales. If a salesman is determined and has enough faith and confidence, he can persuade the prospects in favour of a purchase and thereby, close the sale successfully. Some salesmen have the pre-conceived desire of hearing ‘Yes, I’ will buy’, from the prospects, at this stage.
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Once the prospect expresses his feelings in negation, some salesmen develop the negative attitude immediately about the sales proposition. However, negative replies by the prospects should never deter the salesmen from making continuous efforts in winning the confidence and conviction of such prospects. Therefore, the fear of failure should never override the salesmen’s confidence.
2. Inadequate Presentation:
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The earlier steps of the selling process like prospecting, pre-approach, approach, presentation, demonstration and overcoming objections are to be covered carefully and step-by-step. Once a small mistake is committed and a lapse creeps into any of these stages, the selling process develops vital snags.
As a result, the salesman is bound to meet failure at the time of closing the sale. Therefore, each and every stage of the selling process has to be carefully built up in order to ensure success at the time of closing the sale.
3. Wrong Interpretation:
Some of the salesmen are of the opinion that the prospects need not be convinced and persuaded to buy a particular product or service. They argue that since the prospect has a need, and has moved through the early stages of the selling process, he will be automatically purchasing the product or service offered for sale.
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Therefore, the prospects need not be persuaded to say ‘yes’ at the time of closing the sale. However, such an impression is totally wrong. Prospects, as such, need to be convinced and persuaded at the closing stage also. A successful coverage of the earlier stages of the sales process cannot ensure a favourable response of the prospect at the closing stage also.
4. Interruption:
At times, it may so happen that the salesman might have brought the prospect to the point of closing a sale successfully. At this very juncture, a friend or a relative or an acquaintance may interrupt and for that reason the prospect may withdraw from closing the sale for the salesman.
In other words, third party interference may mar the sale transaction leading to the slip between the cup and the lips. In such cases, prospective sales transactions fail to meet their natural and logical consequence of sale.
5. A Trial Close:
As the name implies, trial close is not the final close. A trial close is a question or a set of questions asked by the salesman to the prospects at different stages of the sales talk, in order to get buying signals. Through the trial close, the salesman tries to determine whether the prospect is ready to buy. In fact, it is an attempt to see whether the prospect is on his way to say ‘yes’ to the selling proposition.
If the salesman gets clear signals from the prospect regarding the buying decision, he (the salesman) need not continue his sales talk any more. On the other hand, if the prospect does not provide any indication of his buying decision, the salesman can proceed along with his sales talk.
For example, a trial close can be attempted by asking questions like, ‘Do you prefer home delivery of the refrigerator by our transport or will you like to carry the same by a hired vehicle?’ ‘Here an attempt is made by the salesman to trial close the sales of a refrigerator.
Once the prospect says, ‘I would like to have the same delivered at my residence’, the sale can easily be considered as closed. It is not necessary for the salesman to go through the rest of the sales talk.
lhe earlier stages of the, seilThus, a trial close has its own merits for the salesman as well as for the prospect, being a time saver. Besides, there is little danger in a trial close. Even if the prospect’s response is negative, the salesman can continue his sales talk and try to further convince with renewed zeal and vigour.