The presumptive close – an easy way to sell

Here’s why you need the presumptive close.

Many of us find it difficult to do that last bit of the sale.  We put all that effort into getting in front of the client, getting clients to be interested in us, refining our product and service offering.

We do all that and then we completely bottle out when it comes to getting people to sign on the line and actually promise to give us money for our fabulous stuff.

Somehow, it seems rude or wrong to press someone to make a decision, so we just leave them to it.

This is particularly true if we’re selling high-value complex items, like training or consultancy.

We prefer to run away and offer to write up a proposal, or we suggest that they might want to have a think about it.  Or we just wrap up the meeting, and walk off, wondering if they might buy something.

I’ve done this many times.  And I know lots of my clients have done it too.  The answer is often what’s called the presumptive close. 

Here’s how the presumptive close works

You presume that the client wants what you’re selling.  Why wouldn’t they – it’s good stuff, isn’t it?

And then you tell them how you’re going to work together

Using the presumptive close, you go over what the client wants, you find out what their problem is, what they need and you tell them about how you can help them.

The words “It sounds like you need…” or “I could do…” are often very useful here. And you give them a ballpark figure to let them know what sort of price they’re looking at.

If you’re not sure about exactly how much it will be you can say “I charge about 2k for that” or “That will be between £500 and £600, but I’ll look into the exact costs and get back to you.”

Notice the definite language here, it will be, not it would be. And then you tell them about how to get started. You know that you can help them, you’re probably excited about helping them.  You talk as if they’ve already agreed.

Have your diary out ready, so you can ask them about when they need to book you, or how long it will take.

Here are some useful phrases.

“If you need delivery by the 28^th, we can do that”

“I’m in Cardiff on the 30^th, so I could be back in London by the 2^nd”

“That’s do-able”

Communicate your excitement in your presumptive close

Tell them that you’re interested/excited/want to do the work.

“This is a really interesting project for me because I get to…”

“I think this will be fun”

“I love [doing whatever it is] because…”

Again, you’re not saying that this would be interesting or fun, you’re saying that it will be.

Get them to commit

“Shall we meet on the 28^th?”

“Can you send me the spreadsheet you’ve done already by next week, and that will give me time to review it for a kick-off date of the 13^th”

More help for your business

It sounds like you need some help in growing your business.  That’s what I do, help people to grow and develop their business, help people to sell more stuff, make more money and have more fun with what they do.

Remarkable Business is my tried and tested programme to transform your business. If you’re struggling to secure sales, then Remarkable Business is for you. We work through a solid action plan to get this right.  

Find out how Remarkable Business can put your business on the fast-track to success

Photo credit – presumptive close by Justin Henry