Gain a Commitment
The commitment stage is the close to the call. As noted in the previous section, the phrase, “Thank you for your time,” is not an acceptable close. There are many types of closes, including the following:
Agreement for an in-person appointment
Time set for a formal presentation
Acceptance of a pilot, trial, or use of a sample
If you do not effectively close, you have lost your gold. Create or affirm an opportunity to make a return call by setting a date or some sort of confirmation. Remember, your customer is not thinking about you, so some way of moving the commitment to the front of the customer’s mind is imperative. For example, ask the customer to take out his or her calendar to record it while on the phone. In this way, both of you are clear about what is going to happen next.
The key to making a close that sticks is taking it a step further, beyond the mere agreement. Play out with the customer the mechanics of how the sale is going to happen. The customer may need to act by a certain date to meet budget guidelines, for example. If you set a date for follow-up, you can monitor the process.
For example, you might say, “Based on your implementation date, it’s clear you need to make a decision by the seventeenth. So, I’ll call you Tuesday. Is morning or afternoon better? Two-thirty? Okay, I’ll call you on Tuesday at two-thirty.” Then, you must be absolutely certain to follow-through on this appointment, as it is a crucial test in the mind of the customer of your own level of commitment.
If you tell a customer, “I’ll call you later,” you probably will not reach him or her. Setting and following through on times are signs of the true professional, and your customers will be more likely to honor their commitments to you when you make sure to do this.