Then Consolidate: Close Every Conversation with Purpose

“Decisions determine destiny.”

—FREDERICK SPEAKMAN, author

After all the hard work in collaborating with your buyer through the WIIFT steps, it would be a shame to not wrap up the conversation as purposefully as you began it. Your last step in WIIFT, Then Consolidate, guides you to a productive conversation closure—and a sale.

Your conversations count more to buyers when you use their time productively. A productive conversation ends with Them making a decision or commitment to do something. Talking about their POWNs only helps them if they make a decision—the buying decision or a decision advancing the sale—that leads to a solution for their POWNs. The lack of a decision prolongs the sales cycle and frustrates the buyer, you, and your sales manager.

I’ve observed too many sellers who work hard to build the relationship, identify the POWNs, demonstrate their solutions’ value, and then wait . . ., follow up with the buyer, wait . . ., follow up with the buyer again, and then wait some more. What they don’t do is ask for a decision or commitment to advance or make the sale.

When I ask sellers, “What keeps you from closing more sales?” I often hear, “The buyers don’t make timely decisions.”

Yet, when I ask buyers why they didn’t buy a solution, their response is often, “They never asked me!”

Then Consolidate is your guide to advancing or making the sale by asking for and securing the decision or commitment. It also assists you in setting the right expectations by identifying next steps, strengthening the relationship, and closing the conversation.

Why “consolidate” instead of “close”? Closing sales is typically an outcome—securing the buy decision. But Then Consolidate is more; it’s the step that unites all the previous steps to easily advance or make the sale.

Consolidating is how you both close the sale today and open future sales opportunities with that buyer. Consolidating opens the door as you close the sale.