Close Strong With These Strategies

Your prospecting efforts have paid off with a listing presentation. Your listing presentation looks great, covering the essentials in a clear, concise manner. And the prospect seems to be engaged in what you have to say. The question now is: are you ready to close?

For many agents, making the close can be a challenge for one simple reason: they don't feel comfortable making “the ask.” But by following a few simple strategies, you can improve your ability to make the ask... and the close:

• Spend time pre-qualifying your prospect: It doesn't matter if you're a great presenter. If the prospect doesn’t have a need for your services at that moment, you won't have a deal. You need to understand your prospect's motivations to sell. That means you need to do your due diligence and make sure you’ve thoroughly vetted your prospect. For a few pointers, check out our earlier post on PRE-QUALIFICATION.
• Get comfortable with your scripts: Become effective at engaging your prospect with good, open-ended questions. Don't spend too much time talking about yourself. Cover the basics, but make sure you are focused on their needs. A script can help you feel more comfortable and confident, which, in turn, gives the prospect confidence that you are the right person for the job.
• Master the art of handling objections: With every presentation, you must be prepared to deal with multiple rounds of objections. Here's how to handle those objections:
  • Mirror and playback what you’ve heard to let the prospect knows you’ve heard them.
  • Let them know you understand their concerns, which again reinforces that they’ve been heard.
  • Address the objective succinctly and clearly.
  • Get back to your closing strategy.
• Be conscious of when it's time to make “the ask”: You don’t want to come on too strong, and try to close too soon. Being overly aggressive suggests that you're only in this for yourself. Once you’ve built rapport, and shown you care about their goals, you might find that the “ask” will come naturally.

If you follow these simple strategies, meetings will hopefully evolve naturally to an easy close. Just go into your presentation enthusiastic and confident. Believe in yourself, which will make it much easier for your prospect to believe in you…and respond positively when you make “the ask.”