The Close Rate Multiplier

The Close Rate Multiplier – Five Hot Principles That Boost Your Sales

A boost to your close rate means more sales and more revenue. These are the five hot principles of the Close Rate Multiplier

There are few things more frustrating than failing to close a hot lead.

You’ve put so much hard work into your marketing and you’ve talked to the client several times.

But when it comes to committing…they’re not on-board. Something’s stopping them from becoming a client.

It all comes down to how you’re closing.

Remember that 70% of your sales come from existing clients. You land them and then you expand them.

With the Close Rate Multiplier, you’re going to spend less time chasing your tail and trying to find new clients. You close at a much higher pace and you’ll create more stability in your business.

I’m going to share my Five Hot Principles for the Close Rate Multiplier in just a little while. First, let’s look at the problems you’ll have if you’re not using this framework and the opportunities that exist when you adopt it.

The Problems

I see a few problems when it comes to closing sales.

The biggest is that you have a sales call and you think everything’s going well. So you ask if you can send a proposal or get some more information.

And they disappear. They start stringing you along and asking you to do more homework for them. You end up in a situation where you’re constantly checking in to see if they’ve made a decision.

You’re chasing the prospect despite the fact that they’re the ones who engaged you in the first place.

Another major problem is that they start nit-picking your stuff.

You manage to get the proposal over to them. They check it over and come back with all of these little things that they want to change. And what follows is a constant back and forth where you amend the proposal and they keep asking for a little extra.

Those nit-picks affect the Iron Triangle of Project Management – Scope, Time and Budget.

They’ll want more stuff done faster or they’ll ask you to deliver what you proposed at a lower cost.

If any one corner of the Iron Triangle changes, you have to change the others too. And if you do that, you’re basically taking money that’s in your wallet and blowing it away.

Again, you’re adding time to the closing process that you could spend on actually delivering a result.

The Opportunity

What happens if you get your closing process right?

In the words of Lionel Richie, closing becomes easy like a Sunday morning. It’s like rolling out of bed and enjoying a nice cup of coffee. Nice, relaxed, and easy.

The second thing is that your confidence skyrockets. You go from having this low battery and having no energy to feeling excited to get on your sales calls. Having that framework in place makes you feel confident that you’re going to make something happen today.

You have a pathway that you’re able to take the client down.

And the third thing comes directly from having that pathway.

You close more consistently. That means you can forecast for the quarter because you can work backwards knowing that you’re going to close “x” amount of sales.

The Five Hot Principles

The Close Rate Multiplier has Five Hot Principles that you need to know.

Getting all of this right will mean more sales for you and less stress on your shoulders. You make closing easy and you get to focus on what you’re really awesome at:

Delivering amazing work for your clients.

Let’s jump into the principles…

Hot Principle #1 – Roll Out the Rapport

This is the first step of engagement and it takes place when you’re just starting to get to know the prospect.

You’re still trying to determine if they’re a good fit and you’re not ready to go straight into the sales attempt just yet.

Rolling out the rapport is all about building the relationship and, more importantly, taking control of its direction.

Imagine that you had a Call Control Button on your desk. Rolling out the rapport is the same as pushing that button so you take control of the call within the first 30 seconds.

The first 30 seconds is so critical when it comes to closing. If you’re not taking control right away, you’re leaving the door open for the prospect to do it. You’re setting a standard that’s going to turn into them feeling like they can nitpick and do whatever they want because you’re not guiding them.

So you need to build that rapport.

And to do that, you’re looking for similarities.

For example, they may be in the same city as you, which gives you something to work with. Or they may have gone to your university or support the same sports team as you.

If it’s a similarity, you can use it to build rapport.

Hot Principle #2 – Set the Agenda

This is all about not having a loosie-goosie way of running your sales call.

You’re a professional and your prospect’s expecting you to take control of the situation. With this principle, you’re going to set your key talking points while still building intrigue into the call.

You’re going to set the agenda to outline how the call’s going to go. But what’s most important is that you’re asking for the prospect’s permission every step of the way.

That means you’re controlling the pathway while the prospect feels engaged and like they have a degree of control for themselves.

Hot Principle #3 – Pace Your Presence

Here’s what I mean by this.

Every one of us has been on a sales call where we’re a little too eager. You’ve probably received sales calls where the person on the other end is so excited to talk that they’re not giving you a chance to say anything.

This often happens for new businesses. You’ve had a couple of flat months and you’re really eager to get a new client in and get working on something.

It comes through in your calls. You’re too chipper and too friendly.

There are only two people who talk to you like an overeager salesperson – your friends and a car salesperson.

And we all know the jokes that people make about trusting car salespeople.

Here’s what I want you to do.

Just tone your voice down a little whenever you’re talking about a new opportunity with a prospect.

Think of it like taking a balloon and letting the air out. Of think of it as talking in the way that your doctor or surgeon talks to you when they’re explaining their plan of action.

The key is that you’re laying it all out without trying to impress your ideas on anyone.

You’re going to find that a lot more prospects trust what you’re saying compared to the super eager salesperson routine.

Hot Principle #4 – Train the Tension

Think about where your client is today and where they want to be.

The bigger the gap, or the bigger the cost of the problem, the more they need an expert like you to step in and help them.

With this principle, you’re taking a rubber band and you’re stretching it. You’re creating some tension in the conversation so that you turn the prospect’s “want” into a “need”.

And that’s where you want to be because “wants” are a someday kind of thing. They’re nice to have but they’re not essential, which means the client’s not too worried about them.

If the cost of the problem doesn’t hurt so much that the client needs to make a change, your chances of closing drop by up to 75%.

Training the tension is all about creating those needs so the client has to engage your services.

And finally…

Hot Principle #5 – Co-Create the Next Step

Here’s what so many do when they’re trying to close the sale.

They say: “Here’s what I’ve got and here’s what it costs. Let me know what you think.”

It’s like if you go to the market and you see a bunch of people selling rugs. They all put out their wares and they leave it up to you to decide who you’re going to go with.

That’s the sort of closing effort that opens the door to nit-picking.

What we want to do is to co-create the next step.

That means checking in on what value the call offered to the prospect and then creating steps from their side of the table.

That’s going to involve them more, which means they’re more invested.

It’s like the IKEA effect.

People don’t throw away the furniture they get from IKEA because they helped to build it.

If the client’s helping to build a solution with you, they’re not going to see you as just another agency.

Your Closing Companion

I’ve discussed the Five Hot Principles of the Close Rate Multiplier.

You’ll notice that there’s a fine line to tread between controlling the call and keeping the prospect engaged.

It’s a difficult line to tread.

But with the right frameworks in place, you can do it and give your closing rate a massive boost in the process.

Dev “Closing Crusher” Basu