SellingPower.com released an article from their archives that discusses 4 factors to consider when closing a prospect.  Now, I am not one to believe in “closing moves.”  Sales are won or lost during the qualifying stage.  Qualified deals close themselves.  However, I think the author hits on the exact problem during the closing stage:

Most salespeople focus so intently on their own performance that they fail to notice when the customer is ripe for the close…

Presenting is a pressure-filled activity and most salespeople spend their mental resources ensuring that they do not falter.  I understand this approach because I used to do it also.  One quick fix to this problem is preparation.

Now one quick, critical point from the article:

The common “everyone is my customer” notion in sales circles is just so much nonsense. Your product must fill a customer’s need.

That is the essence of qualifying stated with perfect brevity.  The author continues on with more excellent points for the closing stage of a sale:

If you’re calling on a large corporate account that has definite buying rules and price policies, make sure you find out what they are before you make your presentation. Large companies are complex webs of interrelated management, financial, purchasing and policy-making procedures. It’s your job to discover the buried treasure. Poke around, ask questions and keep your mind open to possibilities. Defining value for a large corporation with deep pockets may not be simple, but it can be very profitable.

Value is the keystone to selling success and, unfortunately, many companies simply assume value…and do not articulate it.  The defined value should permeate the company’s marketing pieces, website, trade shows and sales approach.

As they say, read the entire thing.

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