Many a time, I have found good salespersons struggle with formally closing a deal. They feel that getting a ‘yes’ is a surety of sales and nothing else remains to be done. However, this is farther from the truth as can be.
The two most import aspects of closure of a sales deal are a written purchase order and a token amount to book the sales.
Most of the sales executive carry a purchase order, filled with basic information, with them as they proceed for a client visit with the intention of closing a deal. This is not a conducive practice to beget sure-shot and hassle free sales. What is advisable is that the actual purchase order composed with exact details of the deal, should be provided to the sales executive once the deal is closed. This purchase order should then be printed on the letter-head of the customer while the sales executive sits in the office to formally close the deal. The purchase order should have all the details of the final price at which the deal was closed, all the other terms and conditions of the deal, such as, after-sales service, consumables, annual maintenance contract and so on. The purchase order on the customer’s letter-head should be duly signed and stamped by the customer and the sales executive.
Once this entire exercise has been performed in the office of the customer in his/her presence, and the signatures received on the purchase order, the commitment of the customer to the sales is augmented exponentially. The customer does not have much leeway to escape from the deal in such a scenario.
Additionally, to further cement the deal the sales executive must insist on receiving a token amount in cash or immediate cash transfer to the company. This token amount can be as low as 0.1% of the total sales amount, yet it plays an important role in getting the deal through. The token amount received against a written sales order fixes the price of the sale. This implies that even when the sales executive or anyone else from the organisation subsequently visits the customer, no further negotiation happens on the sale price. Through experience, I have found that most of the customers who have agreed to a sale with a written purchase order and a small token amount, are always certain of completing the deal.
Hence, these two important aspects of closure should be perfectly executed to complete a hassle free deal. A seasoned sales executive does not rush out of the office of the customer with just an oral commitment or incomplete purchase order, to celebrate a partial closure of a deal.
You may like to watch a video on the concept here: