How to Close the Sale for Your Cleaning Business
You have spent valuable time marketing to a new prospect, spent countless hours doing the building walk-through, gathering information, and putting it all together into a nice, neat, professional proposal package. You're about to present the proposal to the prospect and you are more than ready to close the sale. But is the prospect ready to buy?
Identifying Buying Signals to Close the Sale
If there is one thing that I have learned over many years of selling cleaning services, there are telltale signs that the prospect will often reveal during the meeting to show me they are interested and getting ready to buy. Unless they are downright desperate for a cleaning service, rarely will they sign on the dotted line without putting me through my paces.
What are some indications the prospect is ready to buy?
- Prospect asks very specific questions about the cleaning services you provide (training, policies, supervision, quality control).
- Prospect asks you to repeat or clarify something you already talked about.
- Prospect asks about additional project work you can provide for them.
- Prospect asks for references or inquiries about other customers you currently service.
- Prospect brings up specific issues with their current cleaning service or asks you how you would solve their current cleaning problems.
- Prospect asks who will be managing or supervising their account.
- Prospect asks more specific questions about you and your background.
- Prospect re-clarifies your proposal price and the terms and conditions of the proposal.
- Prospect asks about your time frame for taking over a new account.
What to do when you start hearing buying signals
When you hear a buying signal, answer their question and then test the waters for closing the sale by asking a question in return.
For example, let's say the customer asked you to provide a proposal for 3 days per seek service and one for five days per week service. They go to the pricing page in each proposal and ask a specific question about each price, or asked how you arrived at the two prices.
After answering their question, you may test the waters to see if that was the only obstacle in the way of their making a decision. Ask something like, "If you decide to move forward with us, do you want to stay with the same 3 days per week service, or do you want to go to 5 days per week?"
If the prospect seems hesitant or has another question, do not proceed by applying pressure. People don't respond well to “pressure sales.” Instead, go on with something like “does the information I have presented so far make sense to you?”
If the prospect answers positively and confirms your suspicions, it's likely they want to continue to move forward with the sale.
Here are some sample closing questions:
Things are going good, you feel progress has been made, and you are getting a lot of encouraging feedback and engagement from the prospect – it's time to try and close the sale and get them to make the decision to hire your cleaning service.
- "When we start cleaning a building, we do an initial deep cleaning to get things up to quality standards. We could start your new cleaning program next week. Does that work for you?"
- "We can track, order, and deliver all restroom supplies and consumables for you so you don't have to waste time on managing this time-consuming task. “Does that sound like a service you would like to take advantage of?”
- “Are there any reasons why you feel our cleaning service would not be a perfect fit for your cleaning needs?” (If they respond with a “no”, you most certainly have a new customer. If they respond with a “yes,” you have an opportunity here to ask why and provide the appropriate response to the objection).
- "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 building service contractor."
After you've asked a closing question, it's time to stop talking
Remember, it is more about listening to your prospect's needs than it is about talking about your business and services. 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.
And finally, from the start of your presentation to the close, take a few moments throughout to ask the prospect if they have any questions or concerns so far. Rattling away with your presentation without giving the prospect a chance to respond can cause them to lose interest and become disengaged. 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!
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Congratulations! You did it! You successfully booked an appointment to do a walk through with the person who makes decisions on the cleaning service. Now What? Getting the appointment is just the first step. Don't let yourself down by not preparing – this is an important part of the sales process if you have any hopes of closing the deal. DVD: How to Walk Through and Measure a Building for a Cleaning Proposal |
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