The Ben Franklin Sales Close – recently, I had Dean use a piece of paper to do what is known in the sales world as “the Ben Franklin Close”. I had him draw a line down the middle of the page, long ways. Then I asked him to write his name on the top left of the page and write his client’s name on the top right of the page. I asked him to modify this sales technique by putting at the bottom of the page a line about 2 inches up and putting “Unknown” at the top of that section.
He had just finished a video editing deal with a client, and it went “ok”. There were some things that the client did that were good and bad, and there were some things that Dead did as the editor that were good and bad and then there were some general issues, like there were a few disks missing that belonged to the movie production house and there were issues with a missing cord. Put those items in the bottom area, under known. Those were neither Dean’s nor the client’s issues.
Next, I had him list out in one-to-two-word phrases what he did or didn’t do that stands out in his mind. Put those under his side. Then put under his bosses side the things that his boss did under his side. Dean was so relieved when he finished doing this exercise. This was my adapted version of the Ben Franklin Close that I had learned when selling Priority Management software and time management software.
Now, a few neat articles written by other bloggers are below:
The Ben Franklin Close is a sales closing strategy where a salesperson builds a pros-and-cons list with a prospect about a specific offering. The method lets a sales rep better understand their prospect’s values and priorities while allowing them to clearly convey a product or service’s benefits.Mar 8, 2021
The reason this technique is called The Ben Franklin Close is because it involves a pros and cons list. Back in the day Ben Franklin used to love making pros and cons lists.
These lists are an effective tool for getting your thoughts on paper and figuring out what’s important and what you’re worried about.
The Ben Franklin Close (aka The List Close) works great for figuring out what your client values, helps them think of the all the positives, and helps them realize that the cons are a small price to pay for all the benefits.
This closing technique will only work if it’s presented correctly. It’s important to realize that the pros should outweigh the cons by at least 2 or 3 times. I recommend sitting down and writing out all the pros that your product or service provides to your clients. Feel free to get creative too! Sometimes your pros have to be something you can’t really measure like how it makes your client feel, the pain it’ll diminish for them, etc.
Present the idea of making a pros and cons list when your client isn’t going with your offer. The hang up could be something like price, sleeping on it, thinking about it, etc. Basically, you use this close when you get a difficult objection that requires logic and breaking down the deal.
The close could sound something like, “(client’s name), I understand you want to go home and think about the deal. I completely agree with a decision as important as this; however, it won’t change the fact that you’ll have to at least make sure that the pros outweigh cons. Now, before you go can we work on one together?”
You’ll want to use this close when your client is right in front of you because you can pull out their objections and start to overcome them. It’s always best to work towards the solution together and it’ll help your client trust you more.
Disclaimer: I recommend doing everything to get the client to come up with the pros and cons themselves. You might have to get the ball rolling but once you do let them do all the talking. It’s important because you might state something that’s a pro for you but a con for them.
You might think your 1 week delivery time frame is awesome but unaware that your competitor has 2 day delivery. The price is one you’ll want to watch out for. You might think your price is very low and fair but it is most likely the thing holding the deal up.
Once you make a list to get all the pros and cons out you can start to add value. I recommend finding out what the current list is worth to your client in terms of dollars. That way you can work on bridging the gap between what your client believes it’s worth and what the actual cost is. This is important because if your deal costs $5,000 but the client is stuck at $4,500, you aren’t selling $5,000 you’re selling $500. The gap is a lot more manageable from a sales perspective.
You can add value by thinking up some more pros. Remember that some pros might be worthless to your client. For this reason you should ask something like “what’s that worth to you?” after adding another pro. Keep going until you run out of pros.
Once you get the value to outweigh the cost is when you get the sale. Just make sure you ask for it! The best way to ask for the sale during this close is to ask for the close looking for a no answer. It’ll help you close the deal because the word “no” puts your client at ease and gives them the control. You can ask for the sale by saying something like “Now that we completed this list, is there any other reasons not to go ahead right now with the deal?” Be sure to ensure SILENCE.
https://medium.com/swlh/closing-technique-of-the-week-the-ben-franklin-close-2bda69c87b6
