How to close large sales and smaller sales and the process required for both

In most cases, as a salesperson, we will operate in the arena of either Small Sales or Large Sales.

I do not have a hard and fast definition that clearly differentiates between the two, however, in most cases, Small Sales are to you companies that are 1–50 headcount with Large Sales being reserved for the larger corporation. Often there is a ball range price associated with both, in most cases, Small sales are at a price at which very few stakeholders are needed to approve this varies for companies but 0–10,000£ with Large Sales being £10,001+ plus. A caveat, these will vary depending upon the sales industry you operate in and the solution that you are providing to the buyer

Large Sales

These will tend to have a larger sales cycle compared to Small sales. You will be forced to manage relationships with multiple stakeholders who unanimously will agree to whether to proceed with your solution.

The size of the deal will be larger they the buyer cannot afford to take more risk as the consequences of an incorrect decision are far larger compared to a small sales

Large sales require a more consultative approach to selling, which caters nicely for the use of SPIN methodology.

A brief recap — SPIN selling is great for as you use Situational questions to help you stylish context lead which leads you to the buyer's Problem. If they trust you then they will share their implicit needs which will be fighter developed by your Implication questions which highlight their problem clearly and more acutely so the Need questions allow the buyer to state the explicit needs allow you to highlight the benefits of your solution

To make it easier we refer to Implication questions as sad questions and Need questions as happy questions. Once we reach our implications questions we have identified an issue & our aim is to figure out how serious it is and the magnitude of the pain its causing not only the company but the buyer too. Our Need Pay-off questions are the when we explain our solutions benefit with issues it solves — even better of these are issues our buyer has mentioned

Since the sales cycle for Large Sales is longer it is important that we gauge commitment when we interact with buyers in the form of small advancements

Small Sales

As you imagine are the opposite of Large Sales. In most cases, these are one-off payments and you should be able to speak to the buyer who often will be the decision-maker directly.

A more consultative approach to selling could be used but what is important is to find out the pains of the buyer along with their severity and present the benefits of your solution that will solve with this.

The best type of close for Small Sales is integrating the close into every step, anchoring the person in your product or service, and bringing back to value while asking them questions. Separating the close as an event at the end is a huge mistake because that’s not how the customer thinks.

Our aim is to lead with value.

If the buyer becomes price elastic and mentioned the price is high you can ask some of the following questions:

• Expensive in comparison to what?
• How are you coming to the conclusion this is too expensive?
• Is it a cash flow issue, or a budget issue?
• Let’s say money was no object. Would our product/service help solve your problem?
• Is price the only thing that’s keeping you from signing?
• When’s the last time you bought something based on price alone?
• Outside of price what are the other factors in this decision?