Is the Focus on Closing Getting You Anywhere?

Seth Godin published in his blog this morning some thoughts that perfectly relate to my feelings on the "closing hysteria" many companies seem to suffer from in the multifamily industry. It's time we figure this out and change our approach.

As a speaker and consultant, I often have clients call and declare their dismay at the lack of "closing" exhibited on the shopping report scores. "Lori, we need a class on closing," they say. "Nobody is asking for money. Our visits to closing ratios stink". Fair enough. When they ask for this, my first thought is to shake my head, wonder if I should try to pursue the subject and the real issues, or simply pull out my "10 great closes to try" material and make 3 hours of teaching people how to manipulate others to buy.

See, the problem is, it doesn't work. If you have to teach somebody how to ask, or to ask, you simply have the wrong person in the position. Sales is a talent driven occupation for which an individual is blessed with the ability to woo others. If your people don't have that innate talent, they probably won't be real successful in sales. That simple. You can teach and require all the approaches you want, but if they feel uncomfortable asking, (usually because they feel they are being too aggressive or "pushy"), the client will sense it and quickly exit stage left.

People with "the talent" will benefit from learning different approaches to try, but in general, they will ask anyway. They know their role in sales is to help others get what they want, and when they feel they have accomplished this objective, they can't help but ask. They feel it would insult the client not to.

The first real issue, then is do you have real salespeople representing you, and if not, why not?

Then there is the issue of what we'll call "Executive Perception". Many higher level organization heads perceive sales as being a "no brainer" that pretty much anyone can succeed at if they follow the script and ask for the money. Oh, how I wish that were true. If there were magic words, assuming I knew them, I would be as rich as Bill Gates. We're operating on a double standard that is hurting our businesses - we tell the salespeople to "be themselves" and "customize the tour", and yet we measure performance on how closely they stick to the script, and slap the biggest point values on "Did they close 7 times?" If a car salesperson asked you to buy a car 7 times the first time you walked on the lot, would you buy it? Chances are good you'd run. Chances are also good you wouldn't buy on the first visit. Yet, we expect that our salespeople be so good they can generate a $12,000 sale within 30 minutes from the time the client walks through the door. It does happen - occasionally. People are desperate or they just don't care, or most likely, they have done extensive research and are well into the buying cycle by the time they get to us.

Are you measuring the process, or the result? And, is the expected result unrealistic given the amount of vacancy in your market? The consumer is smart, and in the good old days, would make a $12,000 decision in 30 minutes because they had to. Yours may have been the only vacant apartment for 5 miles. Today that's changed. They know there is plenty of availability because we scream it from all the FREE RENT banners hanging on our buildings...all the way down the street.

Last, as Seth says, how much time, money and effort are you spending building trust vs trying to close a sale? Trust is built through the quality we exhibit, the transparency of our company, the openness with which we share what we do that is good, and for the greater good. Smart salespeople know that trust is inherent to sales success and though they always ask, understand that many will say, "not yet, I am still researching', and will honor that. Most important, however, they know that follow up is critical to success and will see it through by following through.

The real focus, (and training), should be on hiring the talent, building trust and following through.

Stay tuned, and next week I will offer some tips on hiring the right talent.