How to Close a Sale Over the Phone: 9 Essential Tips for Sealing the Deal

About 60% of prospects say ‘no’ at least four times before saying yes.

However, closing a sale doesn’t have to be a high-pressure scenario. You can win this by following smart practices!

As 57% of prospects said, they prefer to purchase from a sales rep who doesn’t push or force when following up.

42% of customers are likely to buy if the sales rep calls back at the decided time.

So, following proper phone sales techniques that close, you can close more sales and drive more money to the business. Plus, 5 effective sales closing phrases.

Closing a deal over the phone can be challenging, but mastering phone sales skills is crucial for success. According to studies, over 50% of B2B sales happen over the phone. So if you want to hit your sales targets, you need to nail your phone closing techniques.

In this comprehensive guide, I’ll share 9 proven tips for closing sales calls and sealing the deal over the phone. By following this advice, you’ll be able to smoothly lead prospects through the sales process to get their signature. Let’s dive in!

Why Phone Sales Matter

Here are some key reasons why mastering phone sales is critical

Convenience: Phone calls allow prospects to connect with you easily at their convenience without having to meet in-person. This increases engagement.
Immediacy: On a call, you can answer prospects’ questions and address concerns immediately in real-time. This builds trust and credibility.
Personability Hearing your voice on the phone establishes a deeper human connection vs email This makes prospects more likely to like and trust you.
Qualification Through an interactive call you can better qualify prospects and weed out tire-kickers.
Closing Power: Phone conversations convert 6x more customers than email outreach. The back-and-forth dialogue is ideal for persuading and closing.

Bottom line, phone sales remain essential for qualifying leads, building rapport, overcoming objections and ultimately closing deals. Now let’s look at how to excel at this critical sales skill.

1. Do Your Research

Before making a closing sales call, take time to thoroughly research the prospect and their needs. This includes:

Studying their website, products/services, and industry
Identifying key decision makers
Understanding pain points your product solves
Reviewing your existing conversations and relationship

Doing your homework shows the prospect you truly understand their business and are the right partner for them. It also helps you tailor your pitch and recommendations.

2. Have a Clear Objective

Know exactly the purpose and desired outcome of the call. This should align with where the prospect currently is in the sales process.

For example, are you:

Introducing your product and qualifying the lead?
Presenting a proposal and pricing?
Overcoming objections and negotiating terms?
Confirming a purchase and discussing next steps?

Having a defined objective keeps the call focused and purposeful.

3. Warm Up the Prospect

Before diving into business, take a minute or two to build rapport and make small talk. For example, you can say:

“How’s your day going so far?”
“Did you catch the game/news/event last night?”
“Are you staying warm/cool/dry? The weather here is crazy!”

This helps the prospect relax and establishes common ground. But keep the chit-chat brief so you have sufficient time to move the sale forward.

4. Confirm the Agenda

Now that you’ve warmed up the prospect, transition into the call’s agenda. For example:

“Thanks for taking the time to chat today. As discussed, my goal is to provide an overview of our offering and pricing, and hopefully get your signature on the proposal. Does that align with your expectations?”

This aligns you on the purpose of the call and gets the prospect’s buy-in. Feel free to adjust based on their needs and where they are in the sales cycle.

5. Give a Brief Overview

Before diving into the details, provide a quick refresher on who you are, your company, and the product or service you offer. Focus on the key benefits and value proposition.

This grounds the prospect so they have the right context before moving forward. Limit this to 1-2 minutes so you have room for the rest of the call.

6. Address Concerns and Objections

Now dig deeper into the prospect’s specific needs, pain points, and concerns. Use open-ended questions to uncover any potential objections, like:

“What challenges are you currently facing with ____?”
“What factors are most important to you in a solution?”
“Do you have any concerns about our company or offering I can address?”

Tackling objections head-on demonstrates you truly want to solve their problems and are willing to work through any reservations.

7. Give a Strong Pitch

With the prospect’s needs and concerns addressed, clearly explain how your product uniquely meets their requirements. Tailor your pitch to how the specific benefits you offer map to their pains and desires.

Share relevant case studies, testimonials, demos, and promotions to showcase proof that your solution delivers results. Be enthusiastic and focus on the value.

8. Ask for the Sale

Once you’ve presented your best pitch, directly ask for the business and close the deal. Phrase it in a way that assumes the prospect is ready to move forward. For example:

“Based on how our platform aligns with your goals, does this proposal seem like a good fit?”
“Are you ready to move forward with the annual subscription plan we discussed today?”
“Shall we complete the paperwork now to get the contract signed?”

Ask closing questions that nudge them to commit versus open-ended questions they can deflect. Be confident they see the value.

9. Confirm Next Steps

Assuming the prospect says yes, wrap up by recapping the specifics of what you agreed on and outline next steps. For example:

“Fantastic, I’m so glad we could come to an agreement to solve your challenges. As discussed, I’ll send over the contract today for your signature and deposit. Once received, we’ll schedule implementation kick-off and onboarding. Please feel free to reach out if any other questions pop up. Looking forward to getting started!”

Leave no room for uncertainty. Clear next steps keep the process moving forward smoothly.

Bonus: Use Call Recording Software

Investing in call recording software is invaluable for closing sales over the phone. Being able to record, store, and analyze your sales calls provides many benefits:

Identify what objections prospects commonly raise and improve how you respond to them.
Pinpoint weaknesses in your pitch and areas for improvement.
Share successful recordings with new team members as training materials.
Access recordings of past commitments when following up with prospects.
Maintain compliance by keeping verbatim records of all sales conversations.

Call recording software pays for itself by helping you become a better closer. Consider tools like Gong, Crunchr, and Chorus to implement this.

Key Takeaways

Here are the essential tips to recap on closing sales over the phone:

Research prospects thoroughly to personalize your pitch
Have a clear objective for each sales call
Warm up prospects with brief small talk
Confirm the call agenda and expectations
Give a high-level overview refresher
Uncover and address objections head-on
Make a compelling, customized pitch
Directly ask for the sale using closing questions
Recap next steps clearly
Use call recording tools to analyze and improve

Mastering these phone sales skills will help you confidently lead prospects through the sales cycle to get their signature. Use these tips to have more productive sales calls and consistently close more deals.

Now get dialing and start sealing more deals over the phone!

Step 2: Open discussions with the questions

Once the introduction part is done, now is the time to begin the valuable discussion.

It would be best if you opened the call discussion with a question.

Here are some questions you can use to open the discussion on a closing call.

“So, the agenda of our call today is to get you started with our services; where do we stand?”
“What else can I do to help you finalize the decision?”
“Is there any query that I still need to answer?”
“Could you please tell me if there are any further concerns left? So that we can get started with the deal.”
“What questions do you have that I still need to answer?”

The question above will reveal your prospect’s intent and also gives details to help you close the deal on the phone.

Step 5: Deal closure

If you’ve cleared out all the objections, you can go with deal closure.

Once the negotiation is done and you have a price, two major tasks are left.

Explaining the onboarding process
Preparation of the contract, gathering signatures and closing the deal.

Note: If your prospects mandate procurement or legal reviews, you can review the purchasing process again.

How To Close Sales Over The Phone – 3 Phone Sales Techniques To Sell On The Phone & Close Deals

FAQ

How to close a sales deal on the phone?

Ending on a question Using questions throughout, but especially towards the end of a phone call, is a polite way of ironing out the finer details of your sale. For example, “is there any reason we can’t go ahead with the deal?” prompts your customer to guide you on your next step to making the sale.

How to close a sales call example?

You can also use trigger words like “last chance”, “ends soon”, “today only”, “don’t delay”, etc. Example script: I should let you know that we have a special [X%] discount available for those who signup within this week. I wouldn’t want you missing out on that.

How to close a sale in one call?

The one call close is a sales technique for closing deals within a single sales call. It involves thoroughly qualifying prospects beforehand, efficiently matching solutions to needs during the first call, confidently addressing objections, creating urgency and asking for the business – all within one sales interaction.

Should you learn how to close a sale over the phone?

Here are a few benefits of learning how to close a sale over the phone: Save time: You might save time while making sales calls since you don’t have to commute to an in-person meeting. Saving time may allow you to conduct more meetings over the phone in your daily and weekly work.

How do you close a deal over a phone call?

Closing a deal over a phone call demands not just persuasive communication skills but also the right set of tools to facilitate the process smoothly and effectively. Here are some of the best tools to consider when you’re aiming to seal the deal over the phone: 1. CRM Software Example: Salesforce, HubSpot

How do you close a sale?

An easy-to-use sales closing guide with three tactics you can use right away. And more! 2. Find the decision-maker. Closing a sale starts long before a customer signs a deal. The first order of business is lead qualification. Qualifying leads ensures you speak with decision-makers who play a key role in buying your product or service.

How do you sell over a phone call?

Selling over a phone call requires a blend of preparation, skill, and strategy. This method of selling can be highly effective, given its personal touch and direct interaction. Here’s an in-depth guide on how to sell anything over a phone call: 1. Preparation: Understand Your Product and Your Prospect