The dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp once said, “Creativity is not just for artists. It's for business people looking for a new way to close a sale; it's for engineers trying to solve a problem; it's for parents who want their children to see the world in more than one way.”

There are tons of resources (including over 2000 books on Amazon) to help you with your closing pitch. But that’s like skipping ahead to the last chapter of a book.

Yes, the hero gets the girl, the retired schoolteacher solves the crime, and everyone lives happily ever after. But it took a whole lot of effort to get to those results. Miss a few steps, and the outcome is no long a sure thing.

It’s no different with sales calls - your closing pitch only works when your prospect lets you get to the stage where you present a winning offer.

Your mission: get them “primed” for the sale

This starts with your appointment confirmation. The worst thing you can do: use the default email in your booking app.

By all means, send them a calendar invitation. But before you do, make sure you’ve personalized every aspect of that invite, from the event name, to the description of what they’re going to get out of their session with you.
Follow up with a series of emails, texts or videos, all focused on how their life will be better after they meet with you. Get them emotionally hooked - and watch you cancellation rate fall.

Your next goal is to get them committed

Each action they take is a reminder to themselves of how committed they are. It can be helpful to have texts or emails featuring a link that says something like "Yes! I can't wait to (make my dreams come true).”

Collaborate with the customer as much as possible every step of the way. It helps when they feel they were an active participant in the process.

Reinforce their “why”

You should personalize your follow up from their perspective.
What can they achieve?
When can they begin to see results?
What will it take to get started?

Conclusion

There’s more than one way to close a sale. But no matter the method, there’s value in trying to connect with your customer. This three-step process of priming the customer, getting them committed, and reinforcing why they want to buy is based on forming a link through empathy.

You have to put yourself in the customer’s shoes and think about what’s in the sale for them and how it would make their life better. So, even though you’re selling, in a way, you are still putting the customer first, which in the long run, is to the benefit of you both.