Tying down sales

Sales Tie Downs: The Glue That Holds It All Together

The versatility and effectiveness of sales tie downs make them crucial on every call. With some companies finding the right tie down questions isn’t a challenge. The benefit of the product is straightforward in that case what is difficult is finding tie downs that lead prospects to choose your company despite it being the most expensive product on the market.

The majority of prospects know what they need and frequently already want the product you are selling. How do you make sure they choose your company and not a competitor to meet their needs? Tie downs that how. In this scenario there are two main types of tie downs we utilize “transitional tie downs” and “closing tie downs”. The pain points for an industry are often universal, so, this post will not dig into uncovering them. That will be a discussion for another time. We will focus on these types of tie downs because they are crucial for keeping a dialogue with a prospect going and closing a deal.

Transitional Sales Tie Downs

Transitional tie downs should be used as often as possible to avoid talking at length about your product. This guarantees the prospect remains engaged and if they have questions about your product it gives them opportunities to ask them. Early in a call when you are still feeling out a prospect tie downs can be as simple as “is this a product your company would use? “or even “is purchasing this something you handle?”. Leading with this type of tie down is a simple way to check that you are speaking with the decision maker and that the company you are calling needs your product.

Once you have established that you are speaking with the right person break up your pitch with more transitional tie downs. These serve as little bridges between different benefits your product has to offer the prospect.

Controlling Sales Tie Downs

The longer the conversation lasts the closer you get to closing the deal. The closer you get to a deal the more leading your tie downs should become. You should switch from “how does that sound?” to more controlling tie downs. Examples of some more leading/controlling tie downs might be “Group pricing is a good option for you isn’t it?” or “You don’t want to have to pay for your employees to retake their certification exams, do you?”.

These more combative tie downs aren’t used as often for those who serve more as account managers, but when needed they can tee you up to ask for the sale with a closing tie down. In short; transitional tie downs give you the ability to control and continue the conversation with a prospect.

Closing tie downs are by far my favorite, all the work is done, it is the big moment. Did all your hard work pay off? Will the prospect say yes? Everything is on the line. In order to get the close, you have to build up the value of your product. Make sure you have uncovered as many objections as possible. Keep your prospect engaged throughout the sales process.
A closing tie down can be as simple as “are you ready to buy”.

Closing tie downs become a little more complex as you deal with price negotiations and order forms, but the basic question is the same. “Can I get your employee started using this product now?”. The core question is the same “are you ready to buy”, but it is veiled and a little more tactful. This either prompts a sale or leads to a waiting game where you will ultimately get the sale, but the prospect just does not need your product until six months from now. This is when it is important to remember prospects buy on their own time! If you try and force a sale you will lose a sale.

Closing Thoughts

At this point you have used tie downs to lay the groundwork and you will get the sale sooner or later. Tie downs work a lot like glue. They hold the pieces of your call together in its most ideal structure there is a tie down in between each chunk of your call. In its simplest form: Introduce yourself, uncover pain points tie down, explain benefits to address that pain, transitional tie down, objections handled, closing tie down, deal closed! Will every call go this smoothly? No, not even one will that is why tie downs are important.

Perfecting transitional tie downs will turn you from a used car salesman who doesn’t listen into an effective sales rep. The usefulness of closing tie downs almost goes without saying—if you never ask for a sale you will never get one. Learn tie downs, use them on every call and you will be a better salesperson in no time.

Foss Baldwin
Sales Executive