Here's a question for all you sales pros. And don't cheat and peek down at the answer before you at least give it some thought and try to come up with an answer on your own. "When does a sale become a sale?"

I was still fairly new in the sales industry, working at a new car dealership when I first heard this question in a sales meeting. Everyday, before our store opened for business, the entire sales staff would gather in the "War Room" to kick off the day with a sales meeting. I always looked forward to those meetings, not because I was into the rah-rah stuff, but because as a young salesman just learning how to sell, I was surrounded by older veterans and I always learned something from the daily exchange of ideas that came from those early morning meetings. The meeting usually were centered around sales challenges that might have come up in the previous day and then as a group, we'd all chip in and try to come up with good responses to the objections. It was a great learning environment and a great way to start off the sales day. Anyway, one day my manager asked the question, "when does a sales become a sale?" Now on the surface, this seems like a pretty simple question. In fact at first, you might think that it's somehow a trick question. But it's not. There was about 15 or so salesmen in that room that day, many of them were grizzled veterans with lots of sales experience, so I was anxious to see if anyone could answer this question. Many hands shot up with an air of confidence, certain that they could solve this riddle. First, all of the obvious answers were called out in rapid succession, "when they sign the contract" someone called out. No, that's not it. "When they give you the down payment", no. "When they drive away with the vehicle." Nope. "When their loan gets approved". Still not the right answer. After a while, the hands stopped going up. Here was a room full of prideful, experienced, smart veteran salesmen and not a one of them could answer such a basic question about the sales process. We finally gave up as a group and waited for the voice of wisdom to enlighten us. And enlighten me it did. For the answer to the question, "When does a sales become a sale?" opened up a whole new way of thinking for me as a salesman. The correct answer was "A sales becomes a sales when the customer takes possession of the merchandise IN HIS HEAD." Think about that for a second. That is absolutely brilliant! A sales becomes a sales when the customer takes possession of the merchandise in his head. Wow! If that's not that's Zen selling, what is? That answer crystallized in my head the process of selling.

You see, once the customer decides mentally in his head that he is going to buy your product, you are over the hump. Now all you have to do is get him to admit it to you, but that's not necesarily that easy either. Remember, the customer will always think that it is in his best interest to not let on that he really wants your product, otherwise he loses all of his negotiating leverage. So he has to keep you guessing as to what he is really thinking. But that's OK. Your job as a salesman is to try to find out how you can discover his true intentions. That's the hard part. That's where the "Trial Close" come into play. A "trial close" is a question that is designed to solicit a answer from the customer that will help the salesman determine if the selling process has been successful enough to proceed to the next step of the sale, which is closing the sale. Since this is one of the most crutial steps in the sales process you need to have a great trail closing question that will help you determine if and when your customer has taken possession of your product in his mind. The trial close that we were taught to ask at this particular dealership was "If I can work our the right price for you, are you ready to buy this car today?" As a trial closing question, this question was OK but in my humble opinion, I could come up with better.

Oh sure, the answer the customer gave you would determine whether or not the customer was willing to buy this car at the right price, but I didn't like it as a trial closing question because you were already telling the customer right off of the bat that you were going to be discounting the price of the car. Since I didn't like giving away my commisions, after some thought and consideration I came up with this as my closing question "Where are you planning to take your first trip in your new car?" Now this might not seem like any great closing question, but it is and I'll tell you why. If you are buying a new car, or a new boat or a new house, or some other big ticket item, the first thing that you are going to want do is to show it off. Can you imagine buying a new boat and not calling your best friend and inviting him to go boating with you as soon as possible? Anyway, the point is that when you buy a big item like a car or a boat, you are already planning your first outing in it. So remember what we said about the customer taking possession in his head. When you ask him where is he taking his first trip in his new car, watch what happens to his eyes. He sort of looks up, his eyes roll back just a little as he pictures himself behind the wheel of his new car, driving down the road. He just bought that car in his head. He can see himself in that car. Now it's only a matter of a little negotiating, but for all practical purposes he owns that car. He might not come right out and say it because that would weaken his negotiating leverage, but his eyes just told you what his mouth won't. On the other hand, if he really didn't like the car for some reason or other, his answer to that trial closing quesiton would have been "wait a minute, hold on, I didn't tell you that I wanted to buy this car." Now you know that you need to do some more selling on that vehicle or perhaps maybe even show him another car. The entire point of the trial closing question is to help you make a determination if and when the customer has taken possession of the merchandise in his head.

Good luck and good selling.