فصل 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

HARD SELL

THE HARD SELL

It has been said that you have to ask someone five times before you get a yes. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I do know that most people will not buy without someone asking them to, and people will never say yes to someone who quits asking. It has been my experience that the moment you quit asking, the deal is dead.

It’s also been my experience that most people will not just give you the money without you asking, persisting, and being willing to “hard sell.” I’m not talking about pressuring the buyer. I’m talking about being willing to get to that hard place in the close where everyone gets a little bit uncomfortable. The salesperson must be willing to stay in the deal and persist through to the close because he believes deep down inside that the product or service is right for the buyer. The salesperson must be willing to persist even when it gets hard, difficult, or uncomfortable. That’s what I mean by “hard sell.” A buyer once told me, “Grant, you’re pressuring me.” To that I explained, “Sir, you’re confusing my belief and passion in knowing this is the right product for you and your company with pressure. Please don’t misinterpret my enthusiasm for pressure. Now, let’s do this.”

When you hit “hard sell” status, you’ve become convinced that your company or product is the only answer and any other choice would be a disservice. At the place of “hard sell,” you’re certain that your service is superior to that of anyone anywhere and ultimately the only right choice your customer can make, and you insist on it because of this belief. Because you believe this so deeply, you’re willing to stay in the deal even when it gets uncomfortable and people are squirming, making excuses, and becoming difficult.

One of the best salespeople I’ve ever met is a woman named Charmaigne. She’s a full-time fund-raiser and a dedicated master of her trade. Charmaigne isn’t selling a tangible product; rather, she’s raising money for charity to help people around the world. She called me up one night and asked for an appointment. I agreed, but made it clear that I wouldn’t be making any more contributions as I’d already fulfilled my charitable donations for the year. “Yes, no problem,” she said. “I just want to come over to see you and catch up.” She came over and we talked for a while, and then she asked me to think about donating more. I adamantly told her, “No! Absolutely not! No way! I already told you that I’d donated all that I’m donating for the year. I am done, Charmaigne!” Unshaken by my outburst, she looked at me with a smile and said, “Now, Grant, the only reason you’re acting like this is you know you haven’t done enough.” I couldn’t believe her audacity to take everything I’d just said and handle me! Once the initial shock wore off, I started laughing and did what all people do when they’re sold—I gave more. Charmaigne is dedicated to her cause, which is what makes her a master fund-raiser. She could have been “polite” and left when I started hollering at her and things got uncomfortable. But she didn’t. She stayed and she got the close. The willingness to stay and persist even when the prospect becomes noisy is what separates the professional, consistent closer from the amateur who randomly closes deals.

If you don’t truly believe that your product will somehow bring the buyer more enjoyment, benefit, or security than the numbers he has in the bank, then you’ll never be a great salesperson and you’ll never fully understand the concept of “hard sell.” If you really believe and learn how to close, you’ll know someday what it means to hard sell. This is an art form!

THE FORMULA FOR HARD SELL

There are only two things that can get you to the point of being a true professional hard-sell closer:

You must believe that what you’re offering is the right thing for the prospect.

You must be trained to stay in the close no matter what happens. You’ll need to be armed with an arsenal of ways to handle stalls, emotional reactions, and objections. My closing program is vital for arming you with the technology to master the hard sell. Go to www.GrantCardone.com or call 800-368-5771.

CLOSING IS LIKE A RECIPE

There’s no way around the fact that you have to know what to say and it has to sound natural. Does this mean you need to become rote in your responses and have some formulated way to handle a specific objection? Absolutely! It’s like a recipe. It takes certain ingredients combined in a certain order and put into the oven at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time. Do it exactly per the recipe and you get what you anticipated; change one thing and you don’t. The more you practice handling objections, the more natural you’ll sound. It’s like the grandmother who makes fudge without even looking at the recipe. She has done it so many times over the years that she doesn’t need to read over the list of ingredients anymore. She just knows what to do—and her fudge comes out perfect every time. It’s the same thing with handling objections and closing deals. There’s nothing wrong with learning what you’re going to say and how you’ll handle certain situations.

If you were giving a press conference to the world, you’d drill and practice what you were going to say. You’d consider how your address would be perceived and the effect that it might create before you’d go out in front of the world with it. You have to do the same thing to prepare yourself to become a professional hard-sell closer.

You need to practice handling objections and stalls so that you can persist intelligently through resistance. I practiced this daily for years. Every morning I’d team up with another salesperson and we’d practice every possible situation we could possibly encounter that day. That training turned me into a lethal individual at closing deals. If you can’t close, you lose.

I’ve done this in many different industries, only to find out that all objections are similar and the closing techniques cross over from one industry to the next. If you can’t persist with closes due to the fact that you run out of material, then you’ll never reach the hard-sell level! If you don’t learn how to hard sell, you won’t make it to the level of the greats!

I suggested to you earlier to work out how you’re going to handle situations. I don’t want you looking shocked or surprised or having to run off somewhere to figure out what to do. I don’t want you going home to think about what you could have done differently—leave all that to the amateurs. To be a professional and get professional results, you have to know what you’ll do and say in every situation.

Videotape yourself and perfect your techniques. I recorded myself every day and watched my gestures, my hand motions, and even my emotional responses. Throughout the day I’d write down all of the objections I heard, and the next day I’d team up with another associate and we’d practice handling them until I was satisfied. Drill and practice build confidence. You’re already doing this now, whether you know it or not, but you’re doing it to build bad habits, not good ones.

STANDING IS FOR LOSING, SITTING IS FOR CLOSING

I’ve watched salespeople enter negotiations standing up, which is a common error. They stand there talking about their prices, payment plans, programs, guarantees, and benefits, and in so doing, they’re only talking and not showing. No wonder they aren’t closing! They’re talking too much and not using anything to establish their credibility. Remember, your buyer will believe what he sees, not what he hears! Talking and telling aren’t closing. They won’t get a salesperson even a remote shot at the close!

You’ll almost never close a deal if you’re standing up. Sit your clients down and show them what you can do for them. Support it with facts they can see and substantiate. Standing up is for walking; sitting down is for closing. So sit your customer down and get your buyer in a position to be closed. “Sit right here, sir, and let me SHOW you the facts about the product.” Don’t pitch it; show it. When you’re making a proposal, sit the buyer down and write down the facts and figures. Telling him verbally is a waste of time and effort and almost never results in a close. So sit the buyer down and show him what you’ve got, and be prepared to hard sell in order to close the deal.