No other step in the sales process causes more reps to break out in a cold sweat than closing. This is your make or break moment. You’ve done your discovery, made a brilliant presentation and answered objections. But you always freeze at the moment of closing. Because this is when you’ll find out if all of your groundwork will translate to success or failure. If the prospect says yes, you’re a hero. If the answer is no, you feel like a goat. The fear of feeling like a goat makes many sales reps put off the closing meeting because they hope the prospect will somehow close the deal themselves. Lance Tyson has a few suggestions to help you successfully get over this hurdle.

The Next Step Close

Tyson likes what he calls “the direct close.” After taking the prospect through each step of the sales process, don’t stall. Don’t put off the inevitable. If you don’t ask for the business, you’ll never close the deal. Just act confident, even if you don’t feel confident. And ask for the business.

The ability to ooze confidence might be second nature to some reps. For other reps, that confidence only comes after years of experience. 

If you’re feeling a bit shaky, use the “next step close.” This means helping the prospect see beyond the actual signing of the contract. If you’re selling home health care services, mention that you’ve got a couple of very experienced employees who would be a good fit for the client. Explain that these employees have availability in the next few days for a site visit. At that point, the prospect starts to think about the future working relationship and getting started on the service they’re interested in. When they agree to start talking about scheduling, you can smoothly mention that first they’ll need to sign the contract.

The Balancing Close

The balancing close is similar to what happens in a consultative sales approach. You’ll need to budget time to help your prospect understand their decision-​making process. There will be pros and cons to consider. In the case of home health care services, the prospect could decide to take no action, but that would increase the burden on family members. Or they could opt to move into a senior living complex. That option may be more expensive and require them to leave the home they love. Investing your time with a prospect throughout the sales process helps to ‘build trust and can produce great results.’

Nobody said closing is easy. Check out Tyson’s other closing techniques to see which one will work best for you.