If attention has been developed into interest, and if interest has given place to desire, the time to close— that oft-mentioned psychological moment—has ar rived. For this psychological moment marks the maximum force of the buying impulse—all inhibiting thoughts have been subjugated, and desire is at its height. Its presence is sensed by some salesmen more readily than by others, and sensed by all more easily in some cases than in others. Some profess to know in every case just when it arrives, but Ito do this would require reading the human mind as an open book and never making a mistake in closing. As a matter of fact, no salesman closes all the sales he endeavors to close.
When we say that the psychological moment has passed, we mean that there has been in the interview a time when all inhibiting thoughts were removed, the desire was created and the man made ready for closing, but that by clumsy closing tactics, an awk ward delay, or by talking beyond the point, the sales man has given the prospect an opportunity to create a new set of inhibitions. As one writer has put it, lle has recovered his shield of doubt and sword of dis agreement and put the salesman to rout.
16. S'ecuring decision.—Whether, on the one hand, the psychological moment has been sensed, or, on the other hand, the salesman merely feels that Ile may have created desire, there are certain closing tactics to be gone thru. These consist largely of what may be termed the mechanics of closing; and these me chanics are based on the law of positive suggestion.
In this connection it might be well to remind the reader once again that at no point does this Text view the prospect as a victim to be played upon by the salesman against the former's better interests. And we emphasize that viewpoint now. It is a peculiar fact that nearly all men, except perhaps the biggest of business executives, are addicted, to some extent at least, to indecision and procrastination. They gather all the essential points on some proposition, weigh them pro and con—and then put the' whole thing over until the morrow. They want to "think it over." There is some danger of selling to cer tain merchants greater quantities than they can read ily dispose of and the salesman should scrupulously avoid this. There are more merchants, however, who do not see or take advantage of their merchandising opportunities and who greatly under-buy. Because the salesman's time is valuable, and because the pros pect will never see the advantages of the proposition more clearly than when the whole thing is fresh in his mind and the salesman is with him, the man who has been convinced must be forced to act—and to act at once.
Except in extremely rare and isolated cases, the salesman need not fancy that his closing tactics, no matter how strong or clever they may be, will land an order if his prospect is not convinced—will per suade a man to sign who has not been carried thru the other stages, including desire. The real point is that many who have been carried thru these previous stages slip away before the end. They desire to "think it over." Even the strongest salesmen do not close every sale when they have brought the prospect to the point of desire. A prospect carried thus far, however, is a distinct asset and the salesman should make every effort to close him.
17. Courage and positive suggestion.—Courage is one of the big requisites at the close. The new sales man, fearing what the prospect may think of him, comes to an awkward pause after he has stated prices and terms. He knows that the next thing he ought to do is to assume that the prospect is going to buy and to use the mechanics of the close, but he lacks the nerve to do it. As a matter of fact, he could well dismiss all fear as to what the prospect is thinking of him, for in nine cases out of ten—and this is especially true if he has dominated the interview—the prospect is too busy wondering what the salesman thinks of him to think anything himself about the salesman. After a time, however, they become natural and CVC11 instinctive to him, and the salesman goes thru the me chanics of the close so often that courage is thus in grained in his nature.
The successful salesman assumes quite naturally that the prospect is going to buy. He has kept him interested all thru the talk; the prospect has agreed with him during the various stages of the presentation that each part of his proposition is good; the prospect has acquiesced in the advantages of the proposition. Why not expect him to do the logical thing—buy? And, sincerely expecting him to buy, why not write out the order, or go after his decision in some other way? The salesman has worked the prospect adroitly, tho with absolute fairness, into a position where it is harder to check the salesman than to go on and complete the sale. To buy is logical; not to do so, illogical.