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Most salespeople could use a little help at closing time. It’s not with the prospects who say yes or no, it’s with prospects who can’t say yes or no. They need more time, need to think about it, need to discuss it, need to compare your offerings, or need a better price. Today we’ll discuss what salespeople can do about all that.

There are a number of reasons why a prospect might need to think it over at closing time. Some may be valid while some may simply be stalls, put-offs, excuses or objections, indicating that you didn’t uncover the real reason a decision was not made. However, there is one form of “think it over” that you can cause and it is very easy to prevent.

The last two weeks I’ve discussed asking great questions – two weeks ago, examples of great questions and then last week, a case history showing great questions in action. This week, I’ll combine great questions with another frequent topic, compelling reasons and discuss how to use your questioning ability and compelling reasons to get what you want.

A salesperson called on me and had a service that was new, but enticing. I thought I could use it, and when the product or service is something I want, I usually end up closing myself. I told the salesperson I was good to go but that since there were some complexities to the who, when, where and how, I asked him to put it in writing.

This week I received a voice mail message from a professional sales trainer (at another firm). He wanted me to know that he used my technique for handling a think it over on his four most recent opportunities and it had worked on 3 out of the four. Before we get to the technique or lessons you should know this. It’s never the technique that actually overcomes a think it over, rather, it’s the technique that provides you with a crutch to hang in long enough so that you can learn why your prospect hasn’t made a decision yet. Once you know why, you can ask questions, eliminate obstacles, fears, and misunderstandings, and close again.