Closing effectively is all about answering this question: "What can you do to minimize the risk to the prospect of buying your product or service?"

Look at all the products out on the market that offer risk-free, money back guarantees. Do you offer guarantees, warrantees, refunds, free trials or make-ups?

In today’s “do more with less” business environment, many economic decision-makers have a new top priority – and it’s NOT “Making the very best choice.”

It is “Not making a mistake that will cost me my job.”

If you can reassure someone with this mindset that buying from you is smart and safe and risk-free, you will automatically close more sales.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• How can I provide a free version of my product or service?
• What can I learn from the auto industry’s new trend of “the 24-hour test drive”?
• What does the buyer have to lose if they buy from me?
• What do they have to gain?
• How can I ensure the buyer’s success – not just their satisfaction?
• How can I employ the concept of risk-reversal – meaning that the risk is all on my side if they don’t achieve success?

When most sales training programs talk about overcoming objections, they usually don’t discuss the real objections that are in most buyers’ minds. These are things like:

• "I don’t trust you"
• "I don’t believe this will get the results you say it will"
• "This sounds too good to be true"
• "If this works, I would have heard of this solution already"
• "Who says so besides you?"

You should understand (and expect) that people probably will not trust you in the beginning of the sales process.

They have been sold stuff all their lives “against their will.”

They bought the steak knives, the late-night infomercial real estate program, the Girl Scout cookies, the raffle ticket, or the used car and regretted it later. (OK maybe not the cookies.) Trust has to be earned over time.

To address these aspects of buyer resistance, you can use a battery of smart sales tools.

You may be using some of these already, but the more you pile on, the more effective they will be.

Start to collect, document, and use:

• Client testimonials (letters are good; audio and video are even better)
• Awards and industry recognition of your product/service
• Press clippings and articles mentioning you or your clients using your product/service
• Objective, fact-based side-by-side comparisons with competing products/services
• Cost analyses and comparisons between using your product/service, using the competition, doing it themselves, and doing nothing

All of these items will help you reduce risk, build credibility, and pave the way for closing more sales - even to your toughest prospects!

Tags: Marketing speaker, marketing coach, close more sales, marketing for speakers, marketing for authors, professional services marketing, selling professional services

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