Are you uncomfortable asking a closing question in your conversation with an enrollment prospect? If so, you are not alone. Some directors don’t ask closing questions because they feel it’s too pushy. Others are not confident in just how to ask. Some expect the prospect to take the initiative. Others just feel uncomfortable with that part of the enrollment building process. And yet, if you do not take the final step in the inquiry contact or visit, it will be much more difficult to reach your enrollment goals.
One of the best ways to gain comfort and confidence in asking prospects to visit, and then to enroll, is to remember that you are not only helping them make a good decision, your role includes getting them to act on your recommendations. Believe it or not, they like you to ask them, especially if they have been impressed with your marketing messages, reviews and your conversation about what they can get from your school.
You want a singular response to your closing question, that being “Yes”. Here are three of five different ways to comfortably ASK your prospects to act on your recommendation.
Alternate Choice Method
This is the easiest kind of closing question to ask and the most comfortable for your prospect to answer. Your question offers a choice about the visit or enrollment, and either answer means you have just scheduled a center visit, or secured the enrollment.
Sample: “Would you like to schedule a center visit on Tuesday at 10:30 or would Wednesday be better for you?”
Direct Method
The prospect who is very direct in his or her communication with you will not cower at your asking this brief, to-the-point kind of closing question. Neither should you. Once answered, the decision is clear.
Sample: “Do you want to go ahead and get Annabella enrolled now?”
Assumptive Method
This method assumes the prospect is ready to make the choice you want, and merely asks them a question that deals with the details of that positive assumption.
Sample: “Would you like some privacy here in my office to fill out the registration papers?”
What are the other two ways to ask a closing question? Check the bottom of this blog for the answer.
YOU MUST ASK OR YOU ARE NOT CLOSING. Making a recommendation without asking for a commitment is NOT closing. Though pleasant, a statement such as, “I think Jackson would really enjoy our center. We would love to have you join our center’s family. Why don’t you give it some thought and let me know,” is NOT closing.
You can turn this recommendation into a valid closing by asking a question like this…
“…I think Jackson would really enjoy our center. We would love to have you join our center’s family. Would you like to go back to my office so we can complete the enrollment paperwork now?
Closing is asking a question the answer to which is a commitment for your goal achievement, which is either a center visit or an enrollment registration. As my colleague speaker and Chicken Soup for the Soul series co-author, Mark Victor Hansen, says, “You’ve gotta A-S-K to G-E-T!” To reach your enrollment conversion and center capacity goals, take that last step, and ask a closing question. When you do, you’ll find that getting to “Yes,” is easier than you think.
Two other types of closing questions are impending doom and contingency. For more on making closing easier for you, ask Julie.
Julie Wassom
The Child Care Marketing Expert and Coach
Marketing and Sales Speaker/Consultant/Author
303-910-3083
julie@juliewassom.com
www.juliewassom.com
