Crossing the Divide: The Art of Closing the Sale
We see it again and again: professional services sellers misread the real desires and priorities of their buyers, and consequently stumble in the art of closing the sale. The Hinge Research Institute conducts regular research on the professional services marketplace. For our most recent study , we set out to examine how successful providers cross the perception gap between buyers and sellers. In cooperation with RAIN Group , we studied over 1500 matched buyers and sellers and analyzed 42 factors that distinguish the sellers who ultimately close deals from the also-rans. The top three factors that correlated with successful sales also predicted buyers’ satisfaction with the purchasing process and intent to continue buying services from the seller. You can think of these three factors as a checklist to meeting professional services buyers’ true expectations. 1. Educate me with new ideas or perspectives Producing educational content for your audiences pulls a lot ...