Tag: closing

When I’m doing a 90-minute presentation, I don’t actually move into the close until I determine that the audience is ready to buy my program or service. (The close is the last part of your talk, where you present the benefits, features, and cost of what you’re selling that day.)

How in the world do I determine that the audience is ready to buy?

I test, which I’ll explain in a moment, and I also observe.

For instance, people in the audience taking notes is a very good sign. It means they’re really interested in what I’m saying.

Conversely, if people are sitting in the audience with their arms crossed, and there’s not a whole lot of response going on, I haven’t gotten through to them yet. So I actually need to change what I’m doing or I won’t get many sales.

Test Their Readiness to Buy
I actually test the audience’s interest and engagement throughout my speech.

Several times, I’ll ask, “Is this making sense?” while raising my own hand. Then I see how many people in the audience are raising their hands as well. This tells me how many people are with me.

Until the majority of the hands go up in response to that question, I keep going and transforming my talk.

This requires me to do a little thinking on my feet. I may bring in other stories or testimonials or whatever I think is necessary to show the audience why they need the information I have. I do that until most of the audience is raising their hands.

Then I know they’re ready for a “test close.”

I’ll ask, “How many of you think that this would benefit you? How many of you would really like to double your income in the next 30 to 60 days?” I raise my hand, and look at theirs.

If their hands aren’t up, they haven’t bought what I’m selling yet, and I’m not moving into the close until they do.

Now, obviously, if I’m on someone else’s stage, at a certain point, I have to close. I can’t be booted off the stage without closing. But, also, I can’t force or oversell the close.

The truth is, you don’t actually sell during the close. You sell prior to it. Think about it, if you haven’t sold them on the value of your program when you’re showing them in detail how it has transformed your and other people’s lives, you’re unlikely to sell them on it later.

However, once you have sold them on the value of what you’re offering, once there’s a sea of hands in that room, you can safely move into the close. You can be confident that there will be a clamor for the back of the room ~ and a very nice payday for you and your promoter ~ when you’re done.

If you’ve applied Steps 1-6 of my formula for a live presentation that sells, you’re rounding the bases and getting ready to slide into home.

You’re now ready for “the close” ~ the portion of your talk that is specifically devoted to selling the product or service that will be available in the back of the room after your presentation.

Many speakers get to this point and choke.

They’ve done a great job sharing their story and weaving it into their teaching (Step 6), but then when it’s time to transition to the close, they get awkward and lose momentum.

They seem to have forgotten that the purpose of their presentation is not to teach, but to sell.

Structure Your Teaching to Sell

To help avoid that problem make sure that the teaching portion of your talk is tightly related to the program you’re offering in the back of the room.

For instance, you’re teaching them two or three of your seven steps for doubling their income in 60 days, or one of the five ways to have the relationship they’ve always wanted.

Your teaching, then, is selling. It entices the audience, shows them what’s possible in their lives and businesses, and leaves them wanting more.

That way, the close becomes a natural extension of your teaching, and your program the answer to their desire.

Step 7: A Smooth Transition

When your teaching and close share the same goal of selling, transitioning from one to the other is easy. Just say something like this:

“For years we’ve been perfecting this information, doing everything that we possibly can to make it simple for you to implement it into your life right away. And we’re really excited to be able to offer that solution to you today.”

That’s all there is to it.

Step 8: The Close: Make It Doable

Now, just start talking about the specifics of your program, focusing on the results they’re going to get, what they’re going to learn, and how it will impact their lives.

Convey the strong impression that you have laid it all out for them as much as possible. Without being deceptive, emphasize how easy and doable your program is.

Don’t overwhelm or confuse them with extraneous detail they don’t need in order to make the decision to buy.

For instance, if you’ve got a program on relationships, the people in your program are going to have to do internal work to get to the point where they’re having great relationships.

But, during the close, don’t talk about all of that internal work. They know they’re going to have to do some work, so you don’t have to highlight that fact.

If you make your program sound complicated or difficult, your audience will tune out and you will lose sales.

For the 15 or 20 minutes of the close, focus on how they’re going to benefit, and how easily your program will guide them to those results.

By the way, you’re delivering this information before you pass out your order form. I’ll pick it up here next time.