If you knew you were walking away from making a huge sale, would you stop and close the sale?  Of course you would, right?  Closing sales is what a salesperson is supposed to do.  Interestingly though, salespeople can, in the process of closing, actually leave money on the table.

Before you say this is something you don’t do (we all naturally think we wouldn’t do something as stupid as this), let me explain more.  

The situation is easy to see and yet too many times we miss it in our rush to close a sale. Let’s set the stage. You’re in the midst of what you feel is a great sales call.  The customer is sharing their needs, they understand your value proposition and they’re ready to buy.  How could you not seize the moment and close the sale?  You go for it.

But in your rush to close, there are big bucks left on the table.

The reason for the big bucks left on the table comes down to one thing: The speed of the close.  What happens is you leave out a key step of the closing process. The step left out is what I refer to as the “next step need/outcome.”

This is the part of the sales discussion where it becomes necessary for the salesperson to identify what and where the next sale is going to come from.   

Many times the “next step need/outcome” is something that is naturally added to the item the customer desires. Some might call this the suggestive selling or the add-on sales technique, and I’m fine with that.  The reason I don’t call it that is because I want to not only maximize the revenue of the sale at hand, but also to set up the need for the next sale. An expression I like to use is, “It’s only a good sale when it leads to the next sale.”

The objective is to uncover a need or desired outcome you can help the customer with at a later time.

To do this means taking the time to uncover more than a single need the customer has.   When you are able to get the customer to share with you multiple needs, then you have more opportunities where you can help them.  Your objective is to isolate the needs the customer shares with you so you can discern ways you can meet those needs.

Close the sale using the biggest need the customer has shared with you, but at the same time, ask several questions that link another need they have with time. The reason you want to link it to time is it gives you something you can leverage.

An example of how this might work could be a person selling software to an IT department.  The IT department has indicated their primary need is to remain compliant with their financial needs.  This becomes what you sell against now.

However, during the sales process they also identified the lack of skilled people they have in their department to administer programs and an upcoming need they have to merge two enterprise systems. With this information, you have the ability to upsell by selling them client support to help implement the new software.  This allows you to take an immediate sale and make it even larger. Additionally, you learned of another need they have that you can start selling against right away. 

Leaving money on the table is not a new problem. Fortunately, it’s solvable with proper listening skills. The key is to upsell on every call and, at the same time, make sure each sale opens the door to another sale. 

Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” is author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price. He is a sales expert who speaks to thousands each year on how to increase their sales profitability. He was named one of the Top 50 Influencers in Sales by Top Sales World.  To receive a free weekly sales tip and read his Sales Motivation Blog, visit www.TheSalesHunter.com. You can also follow him on Twitter, on Facebook and on Linkedin.

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