How to Increase Your Close Ratio: Sales Tips for 2018

Increasing your close ratio doesn’t just mean more closed deals. It means you have more productive conversations with qualified prospects. If you’re looking to have a higher close ratio in 2018, read our tips below to learn how you can be more effective in the new year.

Five Simple Ways to Increase Your Close Ratio in 2018

Start the new year off the right way with these tested sales tips to improve your close ratio in 2018.

1. Get Past the Gatekeeper to the Decision Maker

In order to close sales, you need to contact the decision maker. Of course, one of the first hurdles you may face is moving past the gatekeeper to gain the decision maker's attention. One of the most effective ways to gain cooperation from receptionists, administrative assistants, or any other gatekeepers is to stop thinking of them as roadblocks and to start thinking of them as possible allies.

Very often, your best tactic will be to sell them on the value of your offers as if they were the final decision maker. Even if you can't close your sale with them, you can close them on the idea of bringing the decision maker into your conversation. Once you learn how to get gatekeepers on your side, you are bound to improve your close ratio.

2. Learn Your Prospect's Pain Points

Your customers won't think they need to spend money on your solution unless they can identify a problem that you can help them remedy. The worst thing you can do is to offer a solution to an issue that you haven't identified or your prospect doesn’t have. If you do happen to make a few sales by accidentally striking a nerve, you may just have gotten lucky.

You'll fair better if you can engage your prospect in a two-way discussion about relevant issues. One good way to spark this discussion might be to ask open-ended questions or to bring up examples from similar businesses that your company has solved.

3. Speak Your Prospect's Language

If you're selling managed data services to an insurance agency, you don't want to start by rattling off technical specifications. Instead, use your time to explain how they can address their concerns over downtime, security, or backups in simple language that they are sure to understand. Don't lose your prospects by talking about the technical details of their problem they might not care about. Instead, engage them by describing how you can offer them the benefits of your technical solution.

Scientists use a term called cognitive fluency to describe the fact that people are more likely to agree with something that they find easy to understand. It turns out you will do better if you keep cognitive fluency in mind when in contact with a prospect. Don’t overcomplicate things unnecessarily.

4. Offer Your Prospects Options

You should always try to present your customers with options to improve your chances of tailoring your solution to their needs and budget. If you tailor these options based on what you know about your prospect, you can also demonstrate that you care enough about them as customers to personalize the offer.

Offering a "good," "better," and "best" option is a time-tested, classic sales technique. It doesn't work because the customer always chooses the best option. It works because it forces the prospect to determine what is most important to them. What features do they need, and what price point are they willing to pay, to fix this problem?

5. Fulfill Customer Requests Promptly

Did your customer ask you for a proposal or presentation? You should demonstrate your reliability and concern for the client's business by acting upon their requests promptly.

Customers may keep you waiting from time to time. However, it's rarely a good idea to keep them waiting. If you make prospects impatient, another company representative might come along to close the sale before you even get the chance.

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