Stick it Out Here and Now
If it is possible for you to "stick," don't be put off when you come to the closing stage. All the weighing you do at the present time will be valueless lost effort unless you complete the selling process here and now. When your prospect tries to put you off, he tacitly admits your weights are right. Otherwise he would say "No" and be done with you. You really have won his mental decision. A continuance of skillful salesmanship will enable you to get him to act favorably without delay or further evasion.
Entertainment In Court Room Out of Place
Some salesmen make the mistake of mixing entertainment with the closing process. Earlier in the sale you may be able to secure excellent results by entertaining the prospect with clean jokes and good stories. But the close is the stage at which he arrives at his mental conclusion as to the "preponderance" of the evidence. Jests and light conversation are out of place when the judge is performing his functions in the courtroom of the mind. An amusing remark or a witty quip at this juncture would suggest that the scales of decision in the salesman's own mind were somewhat unbalanced. Your attitude when you are weighing "Yes" and "No" before the prospect should be pleasant, but quiet and serious, as is becoming to a convincing weighman.
When you work to secure a favorable decision, you are weighing evidence with the purpose of impelling the prospect to take your judgment or to weigh the evidence just as you do. It is necessary all through the process that he be made to feel you realize you are aiding in the performance of a judicial function. He must have complete confidence in your intention and ability to handle the scales honestly and with serious pains to determine what is the right judgment about your proposition. Your levity at the closing stage would lessen the effect of honest, serious, painstaking weighing of the images for buying in contrast with the images against buying. So get the funny stories out of your system before you come to the decision step of the sale, or else keep them bottled up inside you and don't pull the cork until you are safely at the celebration stage.
Tones and Acts When Weighing
Do not forget when closing to add force to your words by tones and gestures that emphasize ideas of the contrast in weights between the two sides of the scale. By your light tone you can indicate the triviality of objections to your proposition. With the heavier tone of power you can suggest the great weight of the favorable ideas. If you use broad gestures of your whole hand and full arm, you can seem to pile a large heap of points on your side of the scale. Conversely you can indicate the smallness of objections by moving your fingers only, as if you were picking up a tiny object. Demolish unfavorable points with a strong gesture of negation, as by sweeping your arm horizontally. Give life to the ideas on the favorable side of the scale by accompanying your words with up and down gestures that signify vitality.
Do Not Show That Closing Is Hard Work
Your physical condition or outward appearance will help or harm your chances for success at the closing stage. You should not manifest the least indication that you are under a strain of anxiety as to the outcome, or that you lack the strength to control the completion of the selling process. Why should you not have a feeling of ease when you reach the close? If your bearing suggests your self-confidence, it will give the other man confidence in your capabilities. When a salesman has to "sweat blood" to finish a sale, he indicates that it is usually mighty hard work for him to get what he wants. This impression suggests to the other man that there must be something wrong with the proposition or it wouldn't take so much effort of the salesman to put it across. Any element of doubt at the final stage will almost surely delay or kill the salesman's chances to close successfully.
Make Sure of A Good Batting Average