CLOSE QUARTERS NEGOTIATING AND CLOSING

If there is one thing good salespeople love, it is closing at trade shows. Why? Because this is the part of the sale that really puts the black hole to work for you. All of this momentum and excitement has been building, and now you are giving the prospect a chance to participate – you are going to let them in on the secret, and all it takes is a signed order form.

What we are talking about is an urgency close. Basically, you have taken an excited prospect (or group of prospects) and built that excitement even further with a live demo. Now, all that is left to do is the most natural thing in the world: ask for the order.

Entire books and seminars have been built around the fact that lots of salespeople are reluctant to ask buyers to buy. I am not going to go into any of that in detail here – although learning to ask for the order is crucial to your success – other than to say you should do it as many times as it takes to either make the sale or determine that you cannot overcome your customer’s objections and concerns.

Once you are at a trade show, you have to discard all of the "in-betweens" and focus on generating actual sales. Do not forget that time plays an important role. If you come to a point in your close or negotiation where you cannot go any further with the prospect, then set an appointment for as soon as possible after the show and move on. Even worse than failing to get the order while you are at the trade show would be needlessly wasting hours trying to secure an agreement that you are never going to reach, so do not get caught up in that situation. The clock is always ticking, and smart salespeople use their time wisely.

What you will often find, though, is that if you have done a good job, customers will put up less resistance than you are used to. This goes back to the trade show mindset and the fact that they are in a buying mood. Plus, the longer the show goes on, the more they are afraid of coming away empty-handed. The fear of losing or missing out – the same thing that causes so many salespeople to prematurely cave on price – is working for you in this situation: It often means that sales can be made quickly.

One good way to keep the momentum going is removing obstacles. Complete everything you possibly can, in the way of paperwork and details, before you even begin your presentation. That way, once you have rattled off the benefits and highlights, you make it easy for your buyer to sign on the dotted line. The momentum of the situation will be pushing them forward anyway, so you are looking to take obstacles out of their path as much as you are advancing the sale.

I should take a moment to point out that it will not always be that easy. While it is undoubtedly true that trade shows allow you to let sales happen more than you have to worry about making them happen, some people are going to make it harder than others. Most of the time, in fact, it will be directly related to their experience level and how many trade shows they have been to before.

For someone who is at their first trade show or does not get out of their home office very often, the lights, sounds, and excitement of so many industry professionals coming together can be overwhelming. These are the men and women who can hardly stop themselves from buying, in part because they are just overcome with it all. At the other end of the spectrum, however, are the grizzled veterans who have heard and seen it all before. For them, the trade show is less of a field trip and more of a chance to flex their negotiating muscles. Some of them are so good that it feels like they are selling you.

When you come across one of these types, the rules stay the same, but the expectations change. You will still want to go through your demonstration and build excitement but know that you might be in for a bit of a ride when it comes to discussing price and other issues. In many cases, these folks came looking for a bargain, and are not going to leave until they find one.

A favorite tactic of mine is to create value without cutting too deeply into your own margins. How do you do that? By throwing in something that does not have a big financial cost to your company but benefits the buyer in a big way. For instance, service and warranty plans are something most salespeople can include in an order without breaking the bank. Or you might be able to convince the prospect to take the floor model of something you have been using at the trade show; they get a break on the shipping, and you save by not having to haul it back to your facility. These are just two simple examples, but the point is that even though you are going to run into folks who are looking for a break, there is no law that says you have to give it to them in dollars and cents. They are in a buying mood, so think creatively about value solutions that let you keep your margins intact.

Really, closing at a trade show is usually a pleasure because it is often as simple as giving your demonstration, answering one or two questions, and then asking for the order. Not only do you have time and environment on your side, but your customers have just seen you face to face and seen parts of your company and team that they would not be able to in any other setting. And so, all this excitement and familiarity lends itself to a fast sale.

With that in mind, remember that as with all sales, the hard work is done in the beginning. Get to know your buyer, find out about his or her needs, and then give a demonstration that is full of excitement. If you can cover those steps, the chances are good the black hole will pull them in for a quick and easy close.

Pullout: Show Specials and the Bottom Line

You already know that price is the number one objection to any sale, at anytime, anywhere in the world. Sometimes, customers seem to say they cannot afford something without even thinking about it; even before you've told them how much it costs, they are telling you they do not want to pay so much for it.

Some of this behavior comes down to habit. Buyers have learned, again and again, that salespeople can easily be talked into discounts. That is, they are so desperate to make a sale – and remove the psychological pressure of negotiating – that they'll agree to a modest cut in the price or fee at the last minute just to get the order and secure a commission.

At a trade show, however, this tendency is even stronger. For one thing, as we have already discussed, lots of companies count on trade show specials to help them close orders; that leads buyers to expect better pricing at the booth. And at the same time, you can be sure that you are going to have some weak competitors who are giving out discounts like key chains. It is that much harder to hold on to your margins when your prospects are reminding you all day that they can buy elsewhere for less.

Does this mean you are excused from holding on to your profit margins? Of course not. Never forget that your company is spending big money on the trade show booth, and that your customers are in a buying mood. You can use both of those facts to your advantage, and keep your prices intact at the same time, by doing what you would always do: fighting price objections with value.

Every time a customer tells you something is too expensive, acknowledge it and then go back to all the reasons it is not too expensive. With dozens of other competitors literally right around the corner, your customer would not be talking to you if you did not have something they want. Knowing that, it is likely that they would be willing to pay full sticker price (or maybe even more) to get it. Your job, once you are at this stage in the sale, is not to create interest – it is to maintain it and fight for your fair share. The best way to do that is always by bringing the conversation back around to the benefits you offer.

Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, as we have mentioned. Some companies incorporate heavy discounts into their trade show strategy. I have even seen a couple of vendors who will sell at prices that bring them a loss, just to gain a bigger share of the market. These are not decisions you are going to make at the booth, however, so you will do both if you are launching a fire sale. Assuming that you are not, use the urgency of the trade show buying environment to get your customers to see value over price, not the other way around.

Henry, Carl. Trade Show Selling: How to Make a Year's Worth of Sales in a Few Days or Less. Unknown. Kindle Edition.