You will practise trial closes and asking for the decision in a recorded role-play.
You know the theory of trial closes and asking for the decision. You have written your decision question and said it aloud. But knowing what to do and doing it in front of someone who has a concern you cannot see are different things. In a real meeting, the hidden concern is the one that catches you.
This exercise is a recorded role-play of the close, with a partner who plays a buyer hiding one concern. Your job is to find it with trial closes, handle it, and then ask for the decision. Allow about thirty minutes. The worked example is Hafiz practising the final meeting with Rachel and Kelvin.
Write a short brief for your partner. It should include the buyer's situation, the option you recommended, and the price. Then give them one unspoken concern, which you do not see.
Ask your partner to write their concern on a card and keep it face down. Good concerns are realistic and not too obvious: a worry about how staff will cope, a person who has not yet been consulted, a cash flow issue in the next two months, a bad experience with a previous supplier, doubt about whether the problem is big enough.
Your partner's instructions are simple. Respond naturally. Do not raise the concern unless you are asked a question that would bring it out. If asked directly, give a hesitant answer rather than a full confession.
Hafiz's colleague, playing Kelvin, wrote on her card: "The finance manager thinks we should wait until the new financial year."
Start recording. Pick up from the point where you have presented the recommended option and stated the price. From there, aim to do four things in order.
Use at least two trial closes before you ask for the decision, as in lesson 6.1, Trial closes: check where the buyer stands. Spread them out: one after you recap the option, one after any objection or question.
Watch for a hesitant answer. When you hear one, slow down and ask about it.
Handle the concern with listen, clarify, respond, confirm, from lesson 4.2.
Then, when the buyer has what they need, ask for the decision in plain words and stay silent, as in lesson 6.2, Ask for the decision directly.
Here is how Hafiz's run went. After recapping option two, he asked, "How does that compare with what you expected?" Kelvin said, "It looks good." Hafiz asked a second trial close: "If we went with this, what would worry you most?" Kelvin paused and said, "Probably just the timing."
Hafiz clarified: "What about the timing?" Kelvin said finance would prefer to wait for the new financial year. Hafiz asked when that was and whether the night shift would start before it. It would. He played back Rachel's impact figure and asked whether a phased start, with the overtime module first, would make the timing easier for finance. Kelvin said it might. Hafiz confirmed: "Would that answer finance's concern, or is there more to it?" Kelvin said that would answer it.
Then Hafiz asked: "Shall we go ahead with option two, starting with the overtime module before the night shift?" He stayed silent. After about five seconds, Kelvin said yes.
Listen to the recording together with your partner. Then turn over the card and check how close you came.
Review four things.
Where did the concern surface? Note the exact moment and which question brought it out. In Hafiz's run it came from the second trial close, not the first.
How did you handle it? Did you clarify before responding, and did you confirm afterwards?
Did you ask for the decision clearly? Write down the exact words you used and check them against the plain-words test from lesson 6.2. Hafiz's question named the option and the start, so it passed.
Did you hold the silence? Time the gap between your question and your partner's answer, and check whether you broke it yourself.
Ask your partner how it felt from the buyer's side. Did any moment feel like pressure? Did they feel heard when the concern came out?
Write one change for next time. Make it specific. Hafiz's was: "Ask the 'what would worry you most' trial close earlier, straight after the recap, because the first one was too easy to answer with 'looks good'."
If you have time, swap roles. Playing the buyer with a hidden concern teaches you how easy it is to hide one, and how much the right question helps.
A recording of the role-play in which you used at least two trial closes, brought out the hidden concern, handled it with listen, clarify, respond, confirm, asked for the decision in plain words and held silence afterwards. You have noted where the concern surfaced, how you handled it, and one written change for next time.
Write your partner's brief now, hand them a blank card for the concern, and start the activity below.
Record the role-play, note where the concern surfaced and how you handled it, and write one change for next time.
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