The artisan close can be a very good sales technique to kick the perceived value of your product up a notch. It can also transform a nonchalant prospect into an impressed buyer. With this technique, price objection often fizzles away as you wrap up your presentation.
The usual salesman starts his sales script by introducing his prospect with a product or service. Then he brings in its features and benefits, and other stuff in his bag of tricks. Better salesman would spice up their show by finding out what the prospect wants beforehand. Then he begins to show his prospect how the benefits can solve his problem.
But the best sales professional has more than the usual sleight-of-hand up his sleeves...
By showing your prospect the craftsman's skill behind the product and years of experience that goes into the finishing, you can immerse your prospect into a very different perspective.
All you have to do is find out the intricate details on how your product is created - the process, the skills involved, the quality control, the materials used, etc.
If you are offering a service, describe the gory details of what's involved, who's involved and some of the problems that your service solve every day in order to provide your prospect with an unparalleled value.
All these points should be summarized in a script, to be used when necessary. If your prospect is already sold on your product, there's no need to impress him further. Instead, you can use it after he signs on the dotted line to assure him of the value he's getting. This serves to reduce buyer's remorse.
Let me give you an example of how to use this sales technique. Supposing a watch salesman knows his prospect can easily afford an exquisite timepiece. He's been holding it for some time now but finds it a little pricey compared to another model. He can say something to the tune of:
"An ordinary mechanical watch has roughly 130 components. More complex ones hold hundreds of parts. This particular one you're holding is crafted from 1,728 parts and is one of the most intricate creations known to mankind...
...each part is individually adjusted, hand-finished, and then hand-decorated. Many components are only as thick as your hair. Thus its maker has to accrue over 30 years experience learning the craft before they have the skill to manage such fine and complicated craftsmanship. Each of these masterpieces takes one full year to craft..."
If your prospect is enthralled, you can even go into fine details (of the mainspring, the balance wheel, the hairspring, et cetera) and do a trial close at every juncture to see if he is ready to make a purchase.
You can rivet your prospect's attention by weaving all the information into an educational story. By the time you wrap up, most of your prospects will be ready to be closed.
If you can invest in a little time to put the artisan close to the test, you'll almost always be surprised by the effectiveness and raw power of this sales technique.
