What’s Your CQ?

In our video segment last week, I talked to Amy O’Connor about her philosophy of the Closing Quotient.  This week Amy writes a guest post for us, further detailing this important concept, as well as how you can measure your CQ.

What’s Your CQ?

Amy O’Connor

While IQ tests are designed to assess intelligence, and EQ tests measure one’s ability to identify, evaluate and control the emotions of oneself, of others and of groups, I believe that salespeople have a CQ or Closing Quotient measurement.  When I talk about a sales person’s CQ, I am referring to a set of competencies and skills that drive performance and ultimately make deals happen.

The CQ is a measurement, not just in success as it pertains to the raw numbers of your weekly sales report, but of your ability to drive a deal from beginning to end. Just like following driving directions on the road, driving a sale happens in steps.  Focus on how well your perform each of those steps to determine your CQ.

To score a high CQ, there must be a union of these four competencies:

Connect  x  Understand  x  Advance  x  Serve = CQ

1. Connect – People who rate high in Connect have the ability to build trust with customers and make them feel at ease.  They pay special attention to the relationship that forms between themselves and the prospect.  We establish relationships with people very quickly, be they good or bad.  If you score high in this competency, you realize that building a rapport and becoming liked by your prospect is essential to drive the sale forward.
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2. Understand – You need the ability to identify the customer’s current dissatisfaction and their ultimate goal of improving their life.  Discover what it is about their current situation that needs to change.  This can only happen when a good relationship has been established, because it demands trust. The customer must trust you enough to share their story with your and then trust that you have an accurate and empathetic understanding of what that story is. If they don’t think you understand, they won’t think you can help them and the sale stalls.
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3. Advance – This third skill is the ability to demonstrate the home, overcome objections and ask for the sale. This includes the ability to use vision agreements in the beginning, get small “yesses” all the way through the demonstration, and finally ask for the sale at the end of the presentation on the very first visit.  Sales people who score high in Advance adeptly take a customer through that series of small agreements and arrive at an inevitable concluding point where it is completely natural to ask the final closing question.
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4. Serve – Depending on the customer’s answer to the final close question, Serve manifests itself in one of two ways:
   1. If the customer buys the home, then Serve becomes about providing them with the appropriate level of service throughout their closing process and even after they close, affirming their purchase decision and ultimately asking for a referral.
   2. If the customer has not made a purchase decision, then Serve becomes about implementing a strategic follow-up plan, inviting them back, and asking for the sale again.

In either case, to score high in Serve a sales person has to have a strategic, intentional plan of action for every customer.  It is tempting for sales people to cut that process short, but there is much more value to be had when you continue in your relationship with the buyer.

Sales people with a high CQ are fully engaged in every aspect of the sale.  They realize that closing is not just moment in time at the end of a presentation, but a culmination of all of the processes leading up to the final question.  Remember the formula above.

I challenge you to determine which ability needs to be developed in your presentation to bring your CQ up as high as it can go!