Greet and engage your customer. Even though you are participating in a business transaction, there's nothing wrong with befriending the person you will be selling to. Making customers feel welcome gives them comfort in purchasing what you have to offer.

Qualify their needs. Spend as long as necessary qualifying a customer so that you sell them what they need. There's nothing worse than selling a product or service that the customer is later dissatisfied with. The best and most commonly used question in qualifying is, "What will you be using this for?"

Recommend the right product or service. It is important to understand how all of the products and services work. With product knowledge you'll be able to offer the one product / service that best fits your customer's needs. Making an offer is an important step because it lets the customer know what you have. Even poorly executed offerings are better than not offering at all.

Listen and watch for buying signals from your customer. Buying signals can be both verbal and non-verbal. Questions like, "How many do you have in stock?" or, "What colours does it come in?" are classic examples of verbal buying signals. Non-verbal buying signals (if you are dealing with a customer in person) should also help to indicate when to close a sale. An example of a non-verbal buying signal is the customer holding or using a product as if they already owned it.

Close the sale. Once you observe or hear a buying signal, stop selling and close the sale. A common mistake that can lose a sale is continuing to sell and offer products / services after customers have indicated that they are willing to make the purchase.

a) Close by asking if the customer would like to make the purchase. This is the most simple and straightforward way of closing.

b) Close by alternate choice. Questions like, "Would you like it in blue or grey?" put the customer in a situation where they are not given the option to refuse the sale. If they answer with either of the options you've given them, then you've made the sale.

c) Close the sale by attaching accessory products or services to enhance the product they are interested in. "Let me get you [accessory] to enhance [product]." If they accept the accessory, then you've made the sale on the original product.

Warning!
STOP selling after the customer gives you buying signals. If you continue to offer them other options, they may become unsure about their purchase and end up not buying.

You want a positive response from the customer. You can easily get this by being positive. When you close, instead of asking: “Would you like to go ahead…” you could say: “Let me start the paper work…” This approach takes for granted the customer’s buying signal was positive and closes the sale.

Follow-up. Good follow-up is essential to getting repeat customers. Offer to help the customer with any questions or concerns they have about the product or service you are selling after you've made the sale.