A salesperson asks prospects to rate their buying readiness on a 1-to-10 scale. A 6-8 means interest but pending approvals; 9-10 signals they're ready to sign. Use their number to ask what would move them higher, steering toward commitment.
Now, some of you have heard me talk about my favorite soft close, and I call it the 1 to 10 close. So here's how it goes. I would say something like this: Carrie, with all that being said, having a great meeting, on a scale of 1 to 10, where are you at? Meaning 1, you're sort of like, yeah, you know, it's okay, and 10, you're like ready to sign me a check today. Where are you at? And you're looking for them to give you a number. If they say 5, You know that you're kind of on the fence at a, yeah, you know, it's okay. It's not a no, it's not a yes. That's not a good situation to be in. So then you would use that number 5. Great. That tells me you're kind of on the fence, Carrie. Where can I— what could I share with you? What could I do for you? What could I provide you that might get you to be more like a 6 or a 7? Now they might say, hmm, I don't know, when you ask them on a scale of 1 to 10. Then you explain to them what the different numbers mean. So I would say if Carrie said, hmm, I don't know, I'd say, well, a 5 would mean you're kind of 50/50. You're kind of on the fence. You don't know if it's a yes or it's a no. You're kind of in between. A 6, a 7, an 8 would mean you're interested. You just have a few more questions, need to get some approvals and things like that. So kind of where are you at? 5, 6, 7? Now, I definitely don't say, are you a 3? I don't want to lead them down that path. But if they're not a 5, 6, or a 7, and they're not an 8 or a 9 or a 10, that means they're a 4, 3, 2, or 1. And that's something we need to know.
