Abstract

The paper aims to generate and establish an understanding of effective closing techniques for selling innovative products. Closing a sale is important because this is the stage of the sales process where companies convince their customers to commit to their offer. Using the right closing technique has a huge impact on the outcome of the deal. The paper outlines the importance of the sales closing techniques for the accomplishment of the innovation commercialization process. The literature review and the conducted research study emphasized the sales process as a key factor for the successful commercialization of innovations in the software industry. Software companies feel confident in their ability to develop innovations but not in their ability to sell them. The research employed a descriptive research design. It used a quantitative method for data collection, which was the survey method. The research object is product managers and owners of software companies in Bulgaria. The conduction of the survey used the probability sampling design. Apart from the primary research, secondary data was also examined. The literature review was another research method for data collection used in the research study. The paper presents the results of a literature review and an empirical analysis, which confirm the importance of the sales process in the software industry when innovative products are concerned. Using the right selling techniques, companies develop a successful sales process for the innovative products they create. These findings resulted in searching and presenting effective selling techniques that salespeople in the software industry can use when selling innovations. Software companies recognize that the sales process requires certain knowledge of sales and the last stage of the sale process (the close stage). The research paper provides deeper meaning and understanding of the concept of selling and establishes the importance of using different closing techniques to persuade the customer to buy innovative products. Key salesperson’s abilities and skills were also discussed in the paper. Based on the literature analysis and the conducted research study, the author summarized main and supporting closing techniques that could be useful for sales representatives in the software industry to sell more innovative products, build long-term relationships, and win trusted customers. The author outlined some main knowledge and abilities required for selling innovative products in the software industry. 

Keywords: closing techniques, innovation, product innovations, sales, sales process, software industry.

JEL Classification: M31, L86, O31.

Cite as: Kozludzhova, K. (2021). Closing techniques for selling software innovations. Marketing and Management of Innovations, 3, 223-236. https://doi.org/10.21272/mmi.2021.3-19

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

References

1. Abraham, J. (2011). Selling the Right Way, Prayerfully God’s Way: Unlock the God-given Sales talent within you. WestBow Press. Retrieved from [Link]
2. Allen, J. F., & McGugan, G. D. (2009). Needs Selling Solutions. Trafford Publishing. Retrieved from [Link]
3. Benedict, M. (2007). The Method of Selling: Your Key to Successful Sales with Over 70 Creative Selling Techniques (1st ed.). CCB Publishing. Retrieved from [Link]
4. Breithaupt, T. (2003). 10 Steps to Sales Success: The Proven System That Can Shorten the Selling Cycle, Double Your Close Ratio. Retrieved from [Link]
5. Gee, V. (2007). Open-Question Selling: Unlock your Customer’s needs to close the sale by knowing what to ask and when to ask it. McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from [Link]
6. Jawadekar, W. (2004). Software Engineering, Principles and practice. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Retrieved from [Link]
7. Kulkarni, S. (2009). Negotiations & Selling. Excel Books. Retrieved from [Link]
8. Langley, R. (2007). Beautiful Selling: The complete guide to sales success in the salon. Cengage Learning EMEA. Retrieved from [Link]
9. Rackham, N. (1988). SPIN Selling (1st ed.). McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from [Link]
10. Sant, T. (2006). The Giants of Sales. AMACOM. Retrieved from [Link]
11. Schiffman, S. (2009), Closing Techniques (That Really Work!). Simon and Schuster. Retrieved from [Link]
12. Sharma, R. K. (2020). The art and science of sales. Evincepub Publishing. Retrieved from [Link]
13. Solimini, A. (2014). S.A.L.E.S. =$OLD. Lulu Press. Retrieved from [Link]
14. WEF. (2020). The future of jobs Report. Retrieved from [Link]