Today, we're going to talk about how to close group and committee proposals without even presenting or selling. This is really for people who are in direct sales or who are sales professionals like you and me that are interested in presenting to groups or committees of professionals.

So I'm going to share with you something really amazing and it's a way that you can basically close any proposal in a group without even presenting or selling to them. If you don't believe it, just hang in here because I'm going to show you exactly how it's done and how I've been doing it naturally now for a few years without even realizing that I was doing it. So let's go ahead and get started.

Now first things first, I want you to know that there's a lot of people out there that don't want us to have this information and I've seen that there's groups of people that really want to keep this from us. So since I realized this, I determined that there is a need for this information, there's a need for our community to understand this and be able to implement this in their sales career and in their own business and hopefully start getting the results that I have been getting. So if you're really interested in knowing how to do this, let's go right in. I want to tell you exactly what happened to me.

Like I said, I realized the other day that I was doing this group kind of committee closing thing naturally now for quite a long time. I mean I've been presenting in front of 5, 6, 7 people at a time, typically committees and boards of directors for large companies, even some that are million dollar companies, and I've been presenting to these groups of individuals without even presenting so to speak or trying to even close them, and I usually end up with the transaction closed.

So there is a way that I kind of broke this down into a formula so that you can see how it works and you can apply it in your own sales career. hopefully, like I said, you can start getting the same results that I have.

So here's what happened...

The other day, I finally had this person that I was talking to. We've been back and forth for probably 4 or 5 times over the last month or month and a half. He finally said, "Hey, I like the proposal that you sent. I'd like to go ahead and have you present it to my committee, the board of directors of the company. Can you come by on such and such day at such and such time?"

So yeah, we went ahead and scheduled it and I went there to meet them. So again, there is probably -- I don't know -- 6 people there. All of them at least -- I don't know -- 15 to 20 years older than me. They all seemed like pretty well successful business owners and stuff. And anyway, I know that situation can be intimidating sometimes, when you're in front of a group of boards of directors and successful business owners, but the reality is I'm very comfortable with that now and it's just because I know that I don't go there trying to present them or close them anything. And in the end of this day, I was there for maybe an hour, they were so excited, they were so motivated in what we had discussed that they just told me, "Yeah, let's go ahead with it," and they had a check ready for me the next day to go ahead and complete the service.

So really, here's what happened. I'm going to break down exactly what happened into -- I'll form that into a series of steps, that if you apply these exact steps into your next committee presentation or group presentation, you can potentially get the same results that I have. So let's go ahead and break it down into steps.

And before we do that, I want you to know that this is not just another technique or method to just close people and move on. This is for the serious professionals. I'm assuming that you're a serious professional in your career just as I am and this is for those of us that are really interested in growing our sales career, in really servicing our clients and fulfilling their needs and wants and desires and being the consultant and advisor to take care of them and show them that we are really there to help.

So again, if you're just looking for another technique just to close people and move on and not really care, this might not be for you. But if you're serious about your career, you're serious about growing it and being a continuous growing professional, then this is definitely for you. So let's go ahead right into step #1.

Step #1 of course is just to dress professional. I mean when you're dealing with boards of directors for example and if you show up in T-shirts and shorts with surfboard or something, they may not take you very seriously. And not that there's anything wrong with surfing, but the reality is you've got to dress up to par with the people that you're meeting. So if you're meeting a board of directors and you expect them to be dressed very nice, you better dress very nice. You don't have to try and out-dress them or whatever. I typically just wear dress pants and a shirt. I usually don't even wear a tie but you know, like I said, step 1 of course is just use common sense, dress professional, be clean, groomed, and show up there looking good and sharp, so you can get your stuff rock and rolling.

Step #2 is definitely be prepared with materials, briefcase, laptop, whatever you have. If you don't have any materials at least bring a manila folder with a blank piece of paper and a pen. Believe me, that thing could bring a lot more value to you than you really believe - you've got to show up with at least something. If you go there empty-handed with nothing with you, you're going to look unprepared. And so, at least showing up with the notes that you took before or the proposal with you. I don't even bring a proposal I just have it on my laptop, I don't even print it out, I just have a place where I can take notes because notes are very important. So again, be prepared and bring the materials with you.

Step #3 and this is what I've been doing naturally automatically and like I said, I just realized this -- is I always let them start the meeting. I don't go in there talking and blabbing and presenting and asking tons of questions and stuff. I go in there kind of focused on my laptop screen or my notes or I'm just reviewing stuff while I'm there, and if they start asking me questions, I really let them get it going. This is key because they're the ones, they're expecting you to present to them. So instead of that, you kind of want to let the ball be in their court, whereas they kind of start the meeting and they start asking you a few questions. So this is really kind of counterintuitive from what most salespeople think. They think, "Oh I need to go in there, present to them, close hard and boom, let me get the transaction. Well no, I found it's actually the exact opposite.

Step #4 is wait for them to ask you to show your proposal. So instead of, saying, "well here it is, here is what I got, I'm going to close you, here, give me the money." You just let them start it, let them talk, and kind of have a conversation going and wait for that time, those magic words where they ask you, "Alright. So what you got to show us today?" So as soon as they ask you, I know the urgency or the tendency is to say, "okay here's what I got, I got this awesome thing for you to buy for this much and here's your advantages and benefits and etc. etc. etc."

Well I'm going to tell you right now, that's the biggest mistake you can ever make. Don't take it personal but I know we as sales professionals, we get really excited about our products or services, and because we know that it can really help people and at the same time we can make money and boom - it goes round and round and it's good for everybody. But the reality is as soon as they ask you to show your proposal, if you start pitching them right away on what you got, you're just putting your head in the water and you're not going to be able to sell anything, or if anything, it's going to be by luck -- because here's the secret to all of this...

As soon as they ask you to show your proposal, you need to sidetrack it completely and say these magic words...

"Ok, no problem, but really quick before we go into that, I would just like to make sure that we have all of our bases covered."

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