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Trial Closing – Definition
Trial closing professional sales consultant and sales trainer, we realize far too many examples of salespeople talking about the product/service and then asking for the sale.
As such, most salespeople don’t know where they are in the sales process. When they try it close the deal, there are too many impediments or unanswered questions on the buyer’s part, and the answer is “no.”
And the salesperson does not like the word “no” and doesn’t know how to respond, so he and she walks away with another lost opportunity.
And the first reason to trial close is to understand where we are in the sales process, so we know what is essential to the buyer and where it takes the conversation.
We remember the previous example of the thermometer – if we don’t take the patient’s temperature during the diagnosis and ask about symptoms, how can you determine what to prescribe?
We can’t make a proper diagnosis or ask for a buyer’s decision if we don’t know where we are in the process.
The second reason to trial close is to determine when it is appropriate to ask for the sale. It is significant when asking for the sale is much more important than knowing how to ask for the order.
We don’t believe in hard closing a customer – it’s too uncomfortable for me, and instead, be an influential advisor than the hard closer. If we know when to ask for the order, then how you ask for it is so much easier.
What are the Examples of Common Trial Closing Questions?
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- The following are some common trial closing questions. And think about these terms of how easy they are and how much information we can get from the prospect.
- How do you feel about what we have discussed so far?
- And what do you think about the solution I’ve shared with you?
- And how does what we’ve talked about sound to you?
- Based on what you’ve heard so far, what are your questions?
- And if you had your way, what changes would you make to the proposal?
- Straightforward questions to ask, correct?
- And remember, though, these are all open-ended questions. We need to ask a trial closing question that we get the prospect talking.
- So we can learn about where you are in the sales process and when is the right time to ask for the sale.
How did Buyers Respond to Trial Closing?
- When we ask the trial closing question, we will likely get one of two types of responses; Cold-as-Ice, I’m-Feeling-It. The following information guides how to respond.
1. Cold as Ice
- If we get this type of response to a trial closing question, we need to ask a follow-up question that immediately captures our prospect’s attention because it is clear we take not broken through yet. Here’s an example.
- The salesperson “What do you think about what I have presented so far?”
- Prospect: “we don’t think we would be interested.”
- Salesperson: “We can appreciate that. One other question we take, though, how does our company handle transportation delays, which can affect your manufacturing timetables?”
- Result: The prospect responds with information. And the salesperson asks another open-ended question to determine if the option is still in a mode of resistance.
2. I’m Feeling It
- If we get this type of response to the trial closing question, we know we are on the right track, making progress. And it’s time to strengthen the story before asking for the sale. Here are the examples.
- Salesperson: “How we feel about everything we take talked about so far?”
- Prospect: “Everything sounds pretty good so far.”
- Salesperson: “When we first met, we mentioned that our company is taking a hard time meeting delivery schedules. It might we tell the little extra near that?”
- Result: The prospect responds. And the salesperson then discusses an extra feature that deals with this new element.
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