Yes, I'm serious. I'm going to show you how to close a sale with three – and only three – questions.
Let's go!
Before we get to the three-questions close, you need to guide the conversation through the typical discovery process. Establish rapport, learn more about your contact and their role, dive deeper into what the prospective company does, and ask all those necessary discovery questions.
Eventually, you come to the place in the meeting where you find out who their current staffing provider(s) is (are), how they are using them, for how long, and other important provider information. Once you've acquired this knowledge, you're ready for my three-question close.
Here it is!
QUESTION 1:
"What are some things your current staffing partner is doing well?"
Let them tell you all the great things their current staffing firm does for them. Encourage them to tell you more. And even more! Really, it's okay to let them heap praise on their current staffing partner. You're not really interested in their answer here, anyway. This is a 'setup' for the next question...
QUESTION 2:
"If there's one thing they could improve on, what would it be?"
Ask, and then shut up! It's important that you let them take time to answer. Some 'golden silence' here is perfectly fine.
The first question is asked to soften the prospect and open them up to answering this question. Just launching right into "What can they do better?" would feel more like a trick question. Remember, your prospect most likely decided to partner with the current staffing firm. You don't want to make it sound like you think they made a poor choice. That's why you make them feel good about that decision before you find out where the current staffing firm is failing.
If they can't answer with one thing, help them. But you only want one thing.
"Mr. Prospect, what if they could fill more of your orders?" Or, "What if they could provide more frequent communications?"
We're looking for that single pain point. It's there. Keep looking and probing. Once you have it, here's the final question...
QUESTION 3:
"If [insert your staffing firm name here] can [improve fill rates, provide accurate and timely feedback, or whatever the pain point is], do you see any reason why we can't work together?"
Again, wait for the answer! Let that question sit there. This is your closing question – don't panic and start talking!
It's hard for the prospect not to say "no" to this question. They may give you the standard "let me think about it" or "I need to talk to so-and-so." Fine, you know how to handle those objections. You do know how to handle them, right? If not, you should. Handling common objections will be in a future To the Point.
So, here is the simple formula for closing your next new client in three questions. Let me know how it goes!