When to Confirm

When does one confirm the sale? When have you earned the right to ask this most feared and sacred question? The answer remains elusive, subject to broad interpretation, often founded on your interpretation of perceived buying signals. The majority of sales literature suggests confirming, "When the prospect is ready and communicates a buying signal," or, "When the buyer appears ready." I have always marvelled at the ambiguity in terms of when to confirm. Several authors suggest that you rely on little more than your own perception of body language and discrete buying signals to interpret when they're ready to buy. Unless body language or buying signals are very obvious, you run the risk of misinterpreting the customer's nonverbal communication. I agree that body language is a powerful component of the communication model, but not as the sole method of interpreting when to close. Everyone is different, just as behavioral flexibility suggests, each individual has a unique body-language style (Chapter 6). Socializers adapt their body language differently from Directors but they could be thinking the same thing. I don't think that we can apply a universal set of standards to effectively and accurately interpret body language.

When discussing body language at my seminars, I often notice a participant leaning back in his or her chair with arms folded. I ask the participant not to move and point out their posture to the class. The class usually agrees that the school of body language would have us interpret that posture as detached, uninterested, and guarded. I then validate my theory by asking the participant with folded arms, "Are you comfortable?" The answer, not surprisingly, is usually, "Yes." My suggestion is not to concern yourself with body language unless it's obvious or unless there is a drastic change during the sales call. Let your customer be comfortable without interpreting posture as a negative buying signal. The only real body language that I respond to is if my customer gets up and leaves the office. Then I clue in that perhaps the call isn't going as well as I'd hoped.

So, when do you confirm the sale? Confirm the sale when you have successfully bridged a minimum of two features to benefits. You have now earned the right to ask. One bridged benefit is usually not enough to convince them to buy, which is why I suggest a minimum of two. If the customer says yes, that's great. Go to Step #8. If they say know, then go back to feature fishing and continue to bridge. As we can appreciate, each customer is different. Some only require two benefits to confirm, others may require several. Once again, customers may simply need to know more before they say yes.