Live from Business of Software 2011 - Sales Trainer Extraordinaire Paul Kenny (@PaulKennyOL), founder of Ocean Learning, enraptures us with his powerful and honest talk about Closing the Deal...

3 apologies to start...
1.    No pictures of Peldi
2.    No cute pictures of kids - his kids aren't cute
3.    Honesty: has no evidence of what he's about to say  :)

"One of the UK’s leading Sales Trainers currently available in the Seaport Boston"

Some questions to get started:

1. Who’s thinking of coming back next year?
2. Who will come back next year come hell or high water?
3. Who is going to put something new in place this week as a result of what they have learned so far?

First, an exercise: Write down 1 thing you’re going to do differently as a result of this conference. Also write your Twitter handle or email address and pass it along to someone next to you. You have 2 minutes. Then do it! But also follow up with the person whose paper you received. This really about commitment – in 7 days, send an email and give a reminder. Communities should help each other out.

4th year speaking here. In previous years, Paul covered…

- 2008 – “I love Sales”  Paul coaches and trains sales people and sales managers – usually working in the office with people, sits with them making sales calls, etc. He gets really geeky about sales calls.

- 2009 - It’s all about dialog

- 2010 - Stories are important – don’t just share data, give it context by finding the stories that are authentic for your customers.
Remember Frank from last year? We want to create Frank-free organizations. It’s not about golf clubs at dawn and credentials, it’s an authentic human interaction that moves you towards working together.

- 2011 - Have to finish the cycle by talking about… Closing!

“The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer.” – Peter Drucker

Why don’t we have a Buy Now button when we’re talking to customers?  

Why do we find it awkward to ask, “What do you think about buying this?” It’s one of the biggest problems – people keep talking but don’t ask the Closing question.

You’ve got to get good at triggering an action from people. But we really don’t like closing…. Because we don’t like asking.

He blames Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross for the aversion – Always Be Closing! And he’s quite the ass. This movie is cinematic art, it is NOT a Sales Instruction Video. “Coffee’s for closers.” "This watch is more expensive than your car."

There are no stereotypes for people who quietly close and make customers happy – that doesn’t make good drama.

One of the greatest closers in the world is a kid. For them, closing is natural. They have an inbuilt ability to get what they need.

But we actually teach kids – people – to almost lose that sense of entitlement that makes them so endearing when they’re 8 years old. They don’t understand they’re not the center of the world. So we teach them, “Those who ask… don’t get.” What kind of message is that if you want them to succeed?

So we all learn that asking is a bad thing to do, and we feel awkward about it.

We also have a deep fear of rejection. If we ask, they might say no. And deep down, rejection means going hungry.

Sometimes people don’t close because they don’t want to hear what the customer is going to say. If someone says No, they might then criticize.

This leads to Sales Constipation. Immediately impacts cash flow.

So here's the real title of the presentation: How to ask for and get commitment from the customer, investor, or stakeholder and close more sales without coming across as a Glengarry Glen Ross Sales Monster and frankly a bit of an arse… and suffer the pain of rejection.

What is Closing?
There’s a view that closing is something you do TO people. But no.
Closing is honestly asking for commitment. Moving a business conversation. It’s what you do FOR a customer to make it easy for them to buy, not something you do TO them.

Commitment to...
-    Concept

-    Action – sometimes it’s just about getting everyone together for a demo, to take the next step. It’s not about a bunch of tricks to manipulate people

-    Purchase

Why you should get good at closing…
-    Not asking feels weird for everyone

-    Waiting is paralyzing - and when things slow down, you can spend weeks obsessing / doing nothing else! So just ask.

- Asking aids the decision-making process (choose to stay in comfort zone or do something else). Otherwise they very often decide to stay where they are. But when you ask, you force a decision - they have to imagine using you.

- In sales there is more to learn from a qualified No than an unqualified Yes.

- Little commitments lead to big commitments. You build trust, and it's easier to close each new stage.

Asking for a commitment demonstrates your faith in the proposition. You have to be able to look them in the eye and know you can deliver this for them.

As Rory said yesterday, it's not a rational decision in Sales - it's a Lizard Brain decision. So they're wondering what you're nervous about. You want to show - not just tell - that you can deliver a solution for them.

There are only 2 mistakes sales people make when it comes to closing:

1. Asking in the wrong way at the wrong time

2. Failing to ask in the right way at the right time. A lot more business is lost because you didn't ask when you should have than because you pushed it too far. But you can always back off. But if you walk out without having asked, you can't back off.

The not-so-secret secrets of natural closers (having sat in with 200-300 sales people...):

1. They prime the pump. They make sure they do all of the other things we've talked about in the last 3 years really well. Closing is easy when you've done all the right things. It's hard when there's an artificial target, monthly sales goal, bring things forward - these are inauthentic and smack of "Frank-ism."

2. Ask like you mean it.

3. Frequency and variety matter.

By the time you get to the end, you've clarified the decision for the customer - that's why you're doing it For not To.

4. Expect a Yes but be ready for a No. And then learn something about your product - sometimes just doing that turns things around. "Do you mind me asking why? What's stopping you?" and sometimes the problems go away, because it was a perception of a problem.

5. After you ask, wait for an answer. SHUT UP! Don't keep babbling - it makes the customer's confidence drop. Also, you want to give them a moment to think about it.

The great guys do these things every day - consistently - and it makes a difference.

A word to the LiveStream audience...

At the Speaker's Dinner last night, the Lightning Talk Guys and Paul sat at one end of the table, and the main speakers and organizers at the other... and he felt like maybe they should mix it up and mingle. But he realized it didn't matter... the conversations were the same on both sides of the table, and the passion was the same. So to everyone on the Live Stream - get your asses down here! The most interesting people are sitting in the audience. By watching the Live Stream, you're missing out on at least 50%, probably more, of the conference.

And this is a close... get your asses down here!

Q&A

Q: Can you give us some examples of closing lines?

A: When Paul learned to sell, he was told it wasn't very different than getting a date. Need to be able to ask in different ways. There are lots of different ways to close.

- One is to ask directly. Do you understand? Do you have everything you need? I'm really excited to work with you. When do you think we can start working together?  [Dating close analogy - work this one out for yourself.]

- Indirect - the purchase is only one decision in a whole chain of things. So you have to close people one by one.  "How do you like your porridge cooked in the morning?"

- You can be very assumptive with your closes - just start talking if they've already bought. (Only works if you've done a great job on the selling though!). "Get your coat, you're pulled!"

- Can also give people alternatives - package A or package B. Gives them a choice, gives control back, you're not just pushing them into something. "Your place or mine."

- Respond to buying signals - for exmaple, when they start to ask questions like What kind of training would we need? How soon could you get started?  Then you can ask a question back... when would you like the training? Can also use this in a date. "Are you dancing?"  "Are you asking?"

Q: Can you speak to companies that have a web close?

A: It's really not different - it's the same stuff.

Q: For those of us with a SaaS landing page, do you have any tips for closing?

A:He's not really the person qualified to answer on the online side - talk to Dharmesh or Patrick. Paul is more on the "human" side. However, the Buy Now button is a direct close.

Q: Do only extroverts make good sales people?

A: Introvert/extrovert is more about what takes energy for you, not how good you are. Some of the best sales people he's hired have been introverted, because they related well to the clients. Introverts think before they speak, and extroverts speak to work out what they think.

What's the best line you've found for closing deals...? Leave a comment...