For many small business owners sales is the most difficult part of being in business. Most of us are very passionate and strong on the product side but sales and marketing is somewhat of a mystery. However, there is no one better to sell the product than the founder/owner. They have passion around the business and know what value there is in the product for customers. Books and videos on how to close that are often focused on the sales professional miss the mark when it comes to helping the small business owner sell. All of these closing techniques, while good for the right person, may seem forced and aggressive for the average business owner. They key is to find a style that is natural yet still moves toward the sale. Here is a tip I picked up from my friend Jack Windsor of the Windsor Group to get to the close.
Instead of being intimidated by closing the sale look at the close as a logical conculsion to the sales process. Forget all the "tie down" close techniques, if you have done a good job in the sale process closing is a natural step.
As you do your sales presentation first focus on the prospect's needs and how your solution fits to their needs. Once you have built rapport so that you and the prospect agree on their needs ask what they see the business relationship looking like in six months. Based on their response you simply say that you agree and propose some steps that can be done now to get to that future state. Guess what, you just closed the sale. Here you are aligning yourself with the prospect to help get them get to the desired future state they described. The next steps fit right into where you both agree the business relationship should be going. No heavy pressure just a logical conclusion to the sales process.
Simple right? Be yourself and find conversational ways to "lead" the sales discussion to a close that will bring you sales.