Make this technique a natural part of your sales presentation process.
The art of asking questions to close the deal is one of the most important and most difficult skills to develop. Many successful agents do a great job identifying logical recommendations for their clients, but they inadvertently present the logic in the form of a statement. Clients are likely to resist this approach because they recognize that sales people have an agenda or goal to get “the deal”.
A much more effective way to gain agreement is to ask a question instead of making a statement. When a question is asked, it does two things: 1) it verifies the conclusion the agent has developed is valid with the client, and 2) it gets the buyer or seller saying “yes”, making the transition to a sale much easier.
Let’s consider the following typical example:
A seller is resisting a price reduction. A good sales person will do great research gathering the data that supports the value of the house, and then may say, “The comps and data I presented show you that you’re not likely to get the price you’re asking. I suggest you lower the price.”
A great sales person will use tie downs to get the seller’s agreement. These are called “small yeses” or “mini-closes”. The great sales person will take the same data and ask questions; “I know your home is different, but if you looked at the data I presented without seeing your home, you’d probably think a home like yours may be over-priced, wouldn’t you?” “And based on feedback we’ve gotten from buyers, it’s possible you could be asking too much, isn’t it?”
“Wouldn’t it” and isn’t it” are great examples of “tie downs”. The obvious answer to a tie down question is “Yes”, yet they don’t force the seller to concede his or her position. In other words, tie downs are baby steps toward getting to the successful conclusion.
Other typical examples of tie downs are:
- Couldn’t it
- Wouldn’t it
- Shouldn’t it
- Can’t they
- Won’t they
- Don’t they
- Isn’t it
- Haven’t you
Once you identify the logical conclusion you want the buyer or seller to reach, make every effort to change your statements to questions using tie downs.