Hi there optimal salespeople. This module is entitled, getting a commitment. And it's really all about closing if people think closing is something that happens at the end, and really is a natural consequence of everything that went before and including a bunch of these little commitments or even if it's a big close it's it's really all hinges on your ability to get a commitment to get a decision. So first of all, let's let's talk about what it means to close up generally. People think that use the word to close means to get the order but I want to read the find that closing means getting a decision either yes or no. And that was okay.

There's no thinking in Oh, right. We get a decision and there's no vague reference to future non specific actions. So it's either we either go get a commitment to get either a yes or a no, here's a rule you can live by. And it's one of my favorite ones that saves me a lot of work. If that's never do anything until you know what's going to happen after you do it. Gonna Say it again, never do anything until you know what's going to happen after you do it.

And when I say never do anything, I mean things like sending information or doing a demo or sending a proposal or having a meeting with an executive or with a technical or subject matter expert. So again, never do anything until you know what's going to happen after you do it. That's the essence of this module. So closing then is really holding them to their commitment. It's not it's it's not it shouldn't be some magic thing that comes out of the blue that they've never had. heard about.

So either we're going to close for the order to, you know, for the signed document or a check or something, or we're going to close for intermediate steps along the way. Look, what we're trying to accomplish here is, is to make sure that you understand how to get these commitments. And let me illustrate it with a with a with this little vignette here. Let's say I set you up next week with five people, five appointments with decision makers of some sort. They were decision makers a good sign that jack or they were decision maker, they could move you from one step to the next in the process. But I set you up with five appointments next next week, all with, with with decision makers, all of those decision makers had a compelling reason to move forward that you knew and you knew exactly what it was.

They had enough pain and it was urgency and they and they had enough money. To take care of that pain. And what's more important, they had committed to make a decision based on what you had to tell. So in other words, you're in front of five decision makers next week, all of them have a compelling reason to move forward, all of them have enough money to make the to to purchase what it is you're selling. And they've all committed to make a decision based on what you had to tell them. Now, how many of them do you think you could close?

So just take a second? And just think in your head? How many of you think you're getting close? And when I asked that in a public forum in front of groups, I'll generally get you know, people say, Well, I should be able to close all of them. The more engineering types, you know, they'll say, Well, you know, I can close 3.2 or something or, you know, they they're very, very conservative. But remember that if I define closes getting through yes or no, how many could you close?

And by definition, you should be able to get all five look, even if I'm talking about closing for the order, I should still be able to get a very high percentage of Those people. Now what have I not done that most salespeople spend a lot of time doing? Right? I haven't told them anything yet. I haven't shown them the proposal. I haven't made the presentation.

I haven't done the demo. But But I've gotten a commitment that they're going to make a decision. You just told me you could close them. All. Right. So it turns out that closing is not the important thing.

It's opening. It's setting them up. That's the important thing. So in other modules, we talked about how to discover what that compelling reason is and how to get the prospect to share with you. We talked about how to discuss money and get them to share with you what how much money they would like to spend. We have other modules that talk about the decision process and how to uncover what that process is.

And in this module, we're talking about how to get that commitment. It's not it's there's no there's no magic here about how to ask I'm going to roleplay with you in just a second about how to do it, but The main thing is that you get that commitment. Okay, so to help me illustrate this, I'm going to initiate against the man behind the camera here at Charles, you won't actually see him, but he's going to help me with this little roleplay. So, in, in this situation, you know, we've, I've been with him for maybe 45 minutes to an hour, we've discussed a lot of things, and I'm coming to the end where I'm going to, I'm going to go through this commitment. So here's where we are. Okay, trial.

So I think I understand where we are. Let me let me see if I can recap so. So basically, you're looking for software that will be able to produce these reports that that you're that you're looking for that will come out weekly, and they'll be consistent with you know, with the format that you have already established inside the company. You're looking for something that's in the five to $10,000 range. Fair. Yeah, you got it.

And, and, and you told me that, you know, you were the person that could really make this decision, you know, as to whether You know, we go to the next step now you still have to get approval from the CEO fair. Okay, then let's do this all go through my little presentation here and show you how we prepare these reports and what the what the what the software looks like. Then at the end of my little description, you know, you can let me know a couple things you can let me know. You can say no, no means you know, you don't like it. And he's like not to go forward. Now.

Would you? Would you be okay telling me No? Yeah. Okay, you could tell me Yes, yes means you like it. And you'd like to move forward to the next step. You'll introduce me to George your boss.

Now, you could say you wouldn't need to think about it, Charles. That usually means it was a no you just didn't want to hurt my feelings. So would you be okay, either tell me yes or no. And it's okay. If you tell me No. I would say yes.

Okay. Then Okay, then let me go through and show you how this work. Okay, so timeout Now I'm going to say call timeout, the role plays over. Now that was a very formalized way of setting up this commitment, I can already hear the screams and wailing and gnashing of teeth of this. Oh, I can, that sounds too I could do that it sounds to look I did it that way just so you can see all the elements I'm going to do it again, this time with without so much description about the product or service but just to show you how to do it in a more colloquial way, especially when establish a good relationship with Charles here. Okay, so Charles so so I think I understand exactly what kind of reports you're looking for.

Right? So I'm going to I'm going to go through and show these to you. And if you're looking to spend what between five and $10,000 you said that's what's in our budget. Yeah. And if you you know if and you what you told me is if you like it, you know, you'll introduce me to George and we can go meet with him and see what he says yeah, there. Okay, so look, here's what I'm gonna do.

I'm going to just go through this and at the end of it just Just tell me yes or no, you know, whether Yes, it means you want to introduce me to George no means you don't you know, and it's okay for you to tell me. No, it's quite all right. You're okay with that. Okay. Alright, timeout, we're back. We're back.

So you see, and again, use your own words, use your own phraseology, your own body language, whatever. But the main thing is I'm just going to get a commitment from from Charles that he's going to make a decision before I, before I show him, you know, whatever it is, I'm going to show him and you'll use this for intermediate steps along the way. You'll use it when you when you close, I will say one thing if you're selling in a very formalized process, where you have to submit documents, right, and they're going to look at them and get back to you don't get it. You don't get a chance to get that commitment. Okay. But before you do that, you must know from Charles here, if he's going to submit it to George and if you know he's getting three or four submittals all coming in on the same day that happens in some arenas, then I at least want to know how long it's going to take them to, you know, when I should expect the you know, his his response back, if you're in a governmental situation, when they take 30 to 45 to 60 days, at least know how long it's going to take and at least know who it is this looking at it and when, when you can expect to get the results back.

Okay, so I want to recap for you that there are several types of closes, which I've already mentioned, you can close for the order, you can close for this next step. You know, there's some special situations to consider here. And that's when when they have to collaborate, okay? You know, you've got a group, you have a group of people in front of you, and they're not going to take a vote while you're sitting there. Alright, so, you know, usually it's one person that you're working with to set this meeting up. So you want to have a commitment from that person, that when the meetings over, they're going to go and collaborate and then went and exactly what it is that you should follow up with that person to get the final decision of what of what the group has decided.

When when there's a demo, sometimes you can get them to give you the, the decision right at the end of the demo. And sometimes, sometimes you're going to have to wait. So it's again, it just works like the collaboration. But whatever you do, when you're when you're, when you're getting a commitment at a demo, you want to make sure that you have that commitment that after the demo, you're going to, you're going to get a decision at some point. Too many times I get people call me back saying when we did this demo, everybody clapped, everybody loved it, it's been six weeks, and we haven't been able to get anybody on the phone. When you're bringing an executive and to meet the client, make sure you have a clear understanding of what it is they want to hear.

And then, you know, get and come up with that they're going to make some sort of a decision at the end of the meeting, either in while you're still there, or when you follow up a day or so later. So make sure you have a commitment for how that's going to happen. And the same thing is true when you're meeting with a technical person. Okay, so when do you close You there's one right time to close it you know any there's no guessing about when it's going to be you don't guess at it the prospect tells you and they don't just, you know tell you you have to ask, right you want to ask what the timing is, if you wait too long you look like you're disinterested in you might miss the window yet. If you try to close too soon, you look pushy, and you're going to get a lot of resistance.

The other thing to know that it's not a grand event that happens at the end notice the closing happened before you even started. I think I think that closing happens when you set the commitment and some guidelines and some guidelines for setting this commitments and getting the closing number one is always know where you are in the decision process. Right? You know how how this particular meeting fits into a long series of meetings, how this particular person or persons that you're in front of fit into the overall decision scheme. Know what decision you can ask for you can't ask somebody to make decision that they don't have the authority to make or that they don't have the willingness to me. So you know, what they're willing to what to make and what they're what which one they have authority to make.

I had a boss one time who, who he had authority to make a decision, but he wouldn't make a decision in a certain narrow area of his of his responsibility just because he didn't feel comfortable with it. It was only $150. But he wouldn't make that decision he just wasn't willing to make even though he had the authority. Okay. And here's the very key point is always know what will happen next. Right.

Remember, never do anything until you know what's going to happen. After you do it. If you can live by that rule, your whole closing life and your whole selling life will be much simpler, much less stressful and you will be making a lot more money.