What is Benjamin Franklin Close? Definition of Benjamin Franklin Close, Benjamin Franklin Close Meaning and Concept
The Benjamin Franklin closing is a commercial tool focused on closing sales instantly. It is used when the potential client says they need some time to reflect on their decision.
The commercial area of a company is one of the most important departments it has, if not the most. A company needs to sell to generate income and to be able to maintain its economic activity.
The commercial staff of an organization needs to be trained to be able to close sales in the different situations that can be found. Each client is different and requires using a multitude of techniques to achieve the goal, to sell our product.
The sale does not consist in deceiving the customer, or even in insisting excessively to buy the product that we are offering. A salesperson must make the person in front of him understand that his product is going to solve a problem and that it is the best option he is going to find in the market.
How does the Benjamin Franklin shutdown work?
In this article we explain the well-known commercial technique called "Benjamin Franklin closure". When the potential customer tells the salesperson that he needs time to make a decision on whether or not to buy the product, it is time to make use of this technique.
After hearing that the customer wants to ponder his decision, the salesperson must say that there is no problem and call him if he decides to buy the product. At this point, the potential client will have let his guard down and it is time to take advantage of the last moment that we will have the option to speak with him directly.
We will propose to summarize in less than two minutes the advantages and disadvantages of contracting the product at this time. The salesperson will choose a place to point, be it a folio, computer or tablet, for example. You should have at least ten positive characteristics of the product memorized and start listing them with the customer in front of you.
Subsequently, the salesperson should ask you what are the disadvantages of making the purchase at that very moment. Let's look at an illustrative example.
Benjamin Franklin closing example
Suppose we are sales representatives of a company that sells mobile phones. When the customer tells us that they want to take some time to make the decision to buy our latest model, we act as follows:
- Seller: If you don't mind, I'll give you a summary in less than two minutes of the main advantages and disadvantages of buying our latest mobile phone model now.
- Client: Okay, but I would ask you for speed because I'm in a hurry.
- Seller: Look, I'm listing all the advantages:
- Seller: Now tell me what are the disadvantages of buying it now.
- Client: It will list a few arguments, since it does not have them ready.
- Seller: So, as you can see, there are more advantages than disadvantages to buying our mobile phone now.
The potential customer will have been left out of the game and it will be easier for them to agree to make the purchase, since they do not have enough arguments to say no.
