Consultative Closing - Simple Steps That Build Relationships and Win Even the Toughest Sale by Greg Bennett

In the book Consultative Closing- Simple Steps That Build Relationships and Win Even the Toughest Sale by Greg Bennett a new philosophy to sales is presented. After slowly trekking my way through the first two and a half chapters, I found that the book was very insightful (I say this because his first two chapters were absolutely mortifying to get through, and then after the initial shock, I made it through half of the third chapter and finally started enjoying it). Bennett spends eight chapters explaining a new way of looking at sales and the way a sales person should operate to optimize every opportunity. Bennett is very confident that the process he teaches will work and has been proved over the years, "My success only comes through your success. And it's through the evidence of my clients' successes that I am able to make the claims I do" (Bennett 2).

Of the two sale types, consultative selling is the better one but still leaves room for concern. The issue that comes up with consultative sales people is that they "are like the vast majority of people: they don't like conflict. Closing typically involves some sort of conflict, where one party is asking the other party to take action of some kind" (Bennett 13). If you aren't able to move the sales process along it doesn't matter how much the client likes you, it still comes down to making the sale. Bennett has come up with a best of both worlds system, "an approach to selling that at the end of the day satisfied the needs of clients, led to sales, and created long-term relationships"(Bennett 21).

Bennett explains that most organizations are missing something, "the gap is in the process- or lack of process really- for closing" (Bennett 2). Before you can implement a new closing process you must define what closing actually means. In the new process "closing does not mean a Yes decision exclusively. Closing just means "a decision." Closing can also mean a NO decision" (Bennett 23). Bennett makes it clear that in his new approach it is very important to understand and accept this new definition of closing.

To start chapter two Bennett explains the typical "two step process" that the majority of sales people use but he dislikes (Bennett 28). In this new selling process Bennett has implemented the idea of mini-steps. According to the book the definition of mini-steps are "simply identifiable steps that need to be taken by the client, the salesperson, the company, or an outside party: before, during, and after the sale" (Bennett 28). When using the mini-step process you will be "identifying and breaking down specific tasks within those stages, and in many cases, creating additional tasks that are purposely designed to achieve certain outcomes" (Bennett 29). The major difference is that with the mini-step process "almost all the steps are going to be based on someone taking physical action" (Bennett 29). In this chapter Bennett makes it clear that there are not a specific number of steps that you must have. Each company will be different and it's important to make it fit your needs.

Another aspect of the sales process that is discussed in chapter two is the client's mindset and behavior. A major issue that makes a sales person's job even more difficult is the fact that "clients lie to whatever degree is needed in order to avoid conflict" (Bennett 40). Bennett makes a good point when he states "so many of our problems in sales and closing are caused by our insistence on relying on the spoken word versus physical action when assessing where someone may or may not be in the closing process" (Bennett 45). The goal of the mini-step process is to reduce the use of verbal commitments, which is a big benefit since so many clients are not honest with sales people anyways.

Implementing mini-steps is not only going to help your business as a whole, it will be beneficial for the clients because it speeds up the sales process (Bennett 49). Another way the mini-steps will benefit the clients is by making them feel smarter (Bennett 52). Being able to break the steps down and provide them to make small decisions on the way to the big one makes the client much more comfortable. One very important mini-step is choosing a start date. This is such an important step because it puts something real on paper that the people can visualize and it now gets them out of the market for others (Bennett 65). Another benefit to the mini-step process is the ability to put percentage values to each step, "instead of having to guess based on a gut feel of the salesperson (more verbal interpretation), a manager is able to look at each step and assign a percentage based on the action step taken" (Bennett 69). Having realistic percentages allows management to make reasonable projections and forecasts.

After implementing the mini-step process it is important to begin asking good closing questions. Being able to break questions down into clear and small steps makes everything easier for the client. Bennett says "it's just easier for the client to say yes or no to a smaller thing than it is to some big, unclear, scary thing" (Bennett 82). When asking questions you must be able to listen and understand what your clients are responding with. According to Bennett, "there are only two possible responses (which are more than "answers") to a mini-step question: YES or NO, NOTHING ELSE EXISTS" (Bennett 90). The reason why there is only a yes or no is because in this process