Junior and Senior level Ag Bus.
Colorado Agriscience Curriculum
Section:
Advanced Agribusiness
Unit:
Agricultural Sales
Lesson Title:
Closing the Sale
Colorado Ag
Education
Standards and
Competencies
AGB11/12.06 - The student will demonstrate teaming
skills through problem solving activities in
agriculture business management.
Identify situations where compromise is necessary.
Give and receive constructive criticism.
Conduct a sales/promotion activity.
Prepare and present a group presentation.
Colorado Model
Content
Standard(s):
Math—Leave blank for now
English—Leave blank for now
Student Learning
Objectives:
English Standard 1: Students read and understand a variety of materials.
English Standard 2: Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and
audiences.
English Standard 3: Students write and speak using conventional grammar
usage, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
English Standard 4: Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing,
speaking, listening, and viewing
English Standard 5: Students read to locate, select, and make use of relevant
information from a variety of media, reference, and technological sources.
Time:
One 50 minutes class
Unit 6, Lesson 6: Closing the Sale
1
Resource(s):
Agribusiness. Gibson, Usry, Hass, Liles, Moore. (2001) Interstate Publisher
Instructions, Tools,
Equipment, and
Supplies:
Italicized words are instructions to the teacher, normal style text is suggested
script.
Equipment: Computer and Projection Unit for PowerPoint.
Supplies (optional): A film clip of QVC (home shopping station) or an infomercial
where a product is being sold.
Interest Approach:

PowerPoint presentation.

Lesson plan.

Copies.

Construction paper and markers or crayons.

Slide 3 in the PowerPoint cut up.
Welcome to class amazing Ag Business minds. Who has seen an infomercial or
watched QVC?
Show infomercial or simply discuss the following questions. Can someone explain
what they want you to do? What is the purpose of an infomercial? What do they do
to try and get you to buy? What specifically do they do or say? What was most
interesting about the commercial? What have you been tempted to buy? Why?
Fabulous discussion! Today we are going to talk about how sales people get
consumers to purchase items.
Objective 1:
The student will define closing a sale.
Now when I say “Closing” we are going to break into groups of two. You will need to
find someone who has the same type of shoes you have, example – boots, tennis
shoes, sandals, etc. Please grab a piece of construction paper and take three minutes
to determine a definition for closing the sale. Write it on the construction paper and be
prepared to share you definition with the class. Any questions? Closing.
Facilitate a discussion on the definitions they came up with. Hopefully they should
each have the word agreement or a similar word in them. Then either you or a student
could capture the words they come up with on the writing surface. You all came up
with great definitions.
Now lead them to objective 1 with the PowerPoint or class discussion and have them
capture the definition in their notebooks.
1. What is closing a sale?
It is one of the final steps in the selling process when the salesperson asks the
customer if he or she is ready to buy.
Unit 6, Lesson 6: Closing the Sale
2
You should close the sale when the customer is highly interested in product.
Objective 2:
The student will demonstrate the nine different ways to close a sale.
Now that we know the definition of closing a sale, lets take a closer look at the different
ways to close a sale. Please capture the following in your notebooks.
How do you close a sale?
There are nine different ways to close a sale.


Direct Close
o
A direct close is when a salesperson asks for the order.
o
Briefly restate the products benefits.
o
No nonsense approach.
o
Best used when you feel the customer is going to buy the product.
Summary Close
o
o



You must use another type of close to truly close the sale with this type of
close.
Alternative Choice Close
o

A summary close is when the salesperson summarizes the features,
advantages, and benefits of the product.
The alternative choice close gives the customer a choice of products rather
than asking them to buy or not to buy.
Order Blank Close
o
The order blank close uses an order blank to get more information from the
customer on what they want in their product.
o
This close is used best when the salesperson has a hard time keeping the
buyer focused on the sale.
Impeding Event Close
o
The impeding event close uses an event to make the consumer buy.
o
These events include change in shipping rates, price increase, or a shortage
of the product.
o
The event must be based on truth or the buyer – salesperson relationship is
harmed.
Call Back Close
o
The call back close is used with large sales. This close allows the consumer
Unit 6, Lesson 6: Closing the Sale
3
time to get additional information, think about their decision, or work out credit
issues.
o


This close requires that the salesperson returns to finish the sale.
Trial Order Close
o
The trial order close is used when you want a customer to try out a product
to close the sale.
o
This is the easiest close but some products cannot be used and returned
such as fertilizer, seed, etc.
Balance Sheet Close
o
The balance sheet close requires that the salesperson creates a list of pros
for buying the product and the customer creates a list of cons for not buying
the product.
o
Another method of closing is also required for this closing.
Now that we have the nine ways of closing a sale in our notebooks, we are going to
demonstrate each method.
Cut out the different ways to close a sale on Slide 3 in the PowerPoint Presentation to
allow students to randomly draw a way to close the sale. When I say “Demo” please
get into groups of two by finding someone who has the same color eyes as you.
“Demo”
Now each group is going to draw one of the ways to closing a sale. You and your
partner are going to come up with a minute presentation on how you would close the
sale for our ___________________ (include the type of fundraisers you do examples
– fruit sales, sausage sales, etc.) fundraiser utilizing the type of sale you drew. You
will have 5 minutes to come up with your presentation. Dazzle me with your brilliance!
Allow student to present their presentations. Recap the key points with the class
regarding types of sale after each presentation.
You guys amaze me! Nice job! Let’s take a look at why we need to close a sale.
Objective 3:
The student will explain why closing a sale is important.
Please take 1 minute to think about why closing a sale is important. When you
have an idea please stand.
Once all students are standing continue.
Can I have a volunteer? Thank you ____________. Please record all of our
answers on the writing surface. Elicit responses. Excellent job! Please capture
the following.
PowerPoint Slide 12 Why is closing a sale important?
•Closing the sale is the most important part of the sales process because it is
Unit 6, Lesson 6: Closing the Sale
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the reason people sale. If you don’t get someone to buy your product there is
no reason to sell it.
Great job students! Closing a sale is essential to make sure you actually get a sale.
Review/Summary:
Please choose one of the types of closing you think suits your personality the
best and explain why you choose that type of close.
Application-Extended
Classroom Activity:
Have students watch around them for people closing sales on TV, at school, at
work, etc. Ask them to write down several examples of where they have seen
people closing sales in their every day lives.
Application--FFA
Activity:
Encourage students to participate in the Ag Sales CDE.
Application--SAE
Activity:
Have students evaluate how they sell items in their SAE. For example if they
have an entrepreneurship where they market beef animals, how do they typically
sell their animals. If they were to directly sell them to an individual what type of
closing might work best for them and why. If they are a placement individual
have them look at a product or service that is sold and evaluate how they might
close a sale utilizing the different closing sale techniques.
Evaluation:
Evaluation Answer
Key:
See Evaluation Below
1. It is one of the final steps in the selling process when the salesperson
asks the customer if he or she is ready to buy.
2. Student answers will vary.
3. Some products cannot be used and returned such as fertilizer, seed, etc.
4. Closing the sale is the most important part of the sales process because it is
the reason people sale. If you don’t get someone to buy your product there is
no reason to sell it.
5. T
6. F
7. T
8. T
9. F
10. T
Unit 6, Lesson 6: Closing the Sale
5
Closing the Sale Evaluation
Name: _________________________
1. What is closing a sale?
Date: __________________________
2. What type of closing a sale do you prefer and why?
3. What is the problem with the trial order close?
4. Why is closing a sale important?
5. T
F
A direct close is when a salesperson asks for the order.
6. T
F
A summary close is when the salesperson gives the customer a
choice of products rather than asking them to buy or not to buy.
7. T
F
The order blank close uses an order blank to get more
information from the customer on what they want in their
product.
8. T
F
The alternative choice close gives the customer a choice of
Products.
9. T
F
The impeding event close requires the salesperson to repeat
the call.
10. T
F
The balance sheet close requires a list of pros and cons for
buying or not buying the product.
Unit 6, Lesson 6: Closing the Sale
6