Closing the Sale in Your Cleaning Business

How do you know a prospect is ready to buy? Listen for signals during the presentation. A great indicator is when they start asking for more information. The following are common buying signals: *Prospect asks specific questions about your services. *Prospect asks you to repeat or clarify something you talked about. *Prospect asks about features or different cleaning options. *Prospect asks for references or a list of satisfied customers. *Prospect brings up problems with current cleaning contractor. *Prospect asks questions about you and your business. When you start hearing buying signals, it's time to test the waters by asking a question to see if you're reading the signals correctly. Craft your closing question in a way that responds to the prospect's main concerns, and try to eliminate the possibility of the prospect answering "no" to your question. For example, "If you decide to go ahead and make a change in the cleaning service, would you want to stay with the same 3 days per week service, or would you want to go to 5 days per week?" If the prospect answers positively or confirms your suspicions that they'd like to move forward with the sale, then it's time to close the sale. Here are some sample closing questions: "When we start cleaning a building, we do an initial deep cleaning to get things up to standard. Would you like us to start next week, or the week after?" "We track, order, and deliver all our customer's restroom supplies for them so they don't have to waste time on managing this time-consuming task. Who currently handles the restroom supplies?" "If the cleaning proposal we give you is within your budget, when would you like to make the change?" If they hesitate on price at this point, try something like, "I can certainly understand your concern with the budget, Tom. That's one of the reasons I contacted you. The money you'll save in supply costs, slip/fall accidents, and time spent managing cleaning complaints will be well worth the investment in partnering with us as your cleaning contractor." After you've asked a closing question, it's time to stop talking. Remember, this is more about listening to your customer's needs than it is about talking about your business. Sometimes people are tempted to just keep selling, even though the prospect has indicated they're ready to buy. Pause and give them a chance to speak. One of the best things you can do for your prospective customer is to keep in mind that there is a difference between just asking for the sale and helping people make decisions that are good for their company. In the end, it's not about you. . .it's about them!