Sometimes it’s easier to define influencing by defining what it’s not, and it’s definitely not those near extinct dinosaurs the traditional salespeople. Tom Hopkins is the master of traditional selling and all the reasons it’s becoming extinct. (http://www.tomhopkins.com/) Tom Hopkins became a master in real estate selling when he became a millionaire at 27, then he achieved legend status in his last year in by selling 265 houses in a year – that’s selling one house every day for 365 days. When he retired from selling he became a world famous sales trainer and published a book ‘How to master the art of selling anything’ (subtitled ‘Secrets of the world’s leading super salesman’) he devotes a chapter to closing techniques. Here’s a taster from Tom’s tips he calls the ‘My dear old mother’ close:
This is a cute one. In the right situation, it’ll really shake the apples out of the tree. To use it, you have to talk to someone’s mother – your own if possible, someone else’s if not – in which case you say, ‘ A dear old mother who means a great deal to me…’
You first ask mother to repeat some advise she probably gave you years ago that you’ve forgotten. So ask her, ‘Mom, would you tell me, word for word, that silence means consent?’ After she’s told you that, mind your mother. (It’s absolutely essential to go through these steps by talking to you mother – or someone’s mother – before you use this technique. Unless you demand honesty of yourself, you can’t project a convincing image of integrity.) Here’s how you use mother’s advise: Let’s go back to J. Douglas Edwards’ statement: ‘Whenever you ask a closing question, shut up. The first person, who speaks, loses.’
That’s very sound advice. Between ninety and ninety-five percent of the time, if you go against it and speak first, you’ll lose. So don’t go against it until you’ve risen far above the average and can start going for that last five or ten percent, until you’ve learned when the tension hurts the close instead of making it, until you’ve learned a way to break the tension and still close. That’s where dear old mother comes in. If you’ve been wondering what she’s done for you lately, here’s your answer.
This technique can be your salvation when you find yourself involved in a series of silences as you roll from close to close with the same prospect.
If you have a clever way to break tension, pressure turns into humour. Explosive laughter sometimes. Lots of people can handle pressure, but laughter will pop them wide open.
So when the pressure has been on for several seconds after your last close and it’s getting heavy in the room, suddenly grin from ear to ear and say, ‘My dear old mother said, “Silence means consent.” Was she right?”
No Tom, your dear old mother, and you, are wrong. What’s right is genuine collaboration and exploration of mutual value, not tricky inappropriate closing techniques.
