High ticket closing is the process of making sales for products above a certain amount, usually $1000 or more. As customers are unlikely to make such purchases a daily activity, high ticket closing is a little different from regular sales.
Primarily, the largest difference lies in the inherent risk. As prices of products and services increase, the size of the intended audience decreases, meaning that each lost lead is much more impactful. Additionally, any premium product or service necessitates better customer service, meaning less mistakes can be made throughout the experience.
What is high ticket closing?
High ticket closing, as mentioned above, is selling premium or high quality products to a specific audience. These purchases are generally not routine, regular purchases.
Many high ticket sales will include things such as vehicles, real estate, training courses, etc. Buyer’s journeys are generally significantly longer than with any other item under $100. They will require multiple points of contact and enormous expertise from the sales professional that undertakes high ticket closing.
Additionally, there’s an implicit expectation that’s included in any high ticket item - a great service and an amazing experience. Customers expect sales professionals to be proactive, provide suggestions, and pick out the best offer for them specifically.
Luckily, high ticket closing also has better profit margins for the company and commissions for the sales professional. Yet, as losing even a single customer is significantly more impactful, being a high ticket closer is a field of its own.
What is a high ticket closer?
A high ticket closer is a sales professional that specializes in selling expensive and premium products, working with potential customers through long journeys and providing excellent customer service. Many high ticket closer professionals work in business-to-business sales as that’s where a majority of huge deals happen.
High ticket closers need to completely shift their strategy in order to approach such customers. Simple sales tactics such as special offers, timed events, and discounts are often considered cheap and may even negatively affect the overall experience.
As such, high ticket closing requires a complete shift of strategy. Sales becomes much more about educating, tailoring products or services for the customer directly, and maintaining a constant line of communication. Additionally, nurturing the customer, a phase less prominent in low ticket sales, becomes essential.
How high ticket sales are different
Two essential factors are at play when high and low ticket sales are compared. First, as the prices are much higher, the analysis process for the buyer is much longer. Additionally, as prices increase, the likelihood of a customer making an impulse purchase decreases.
As such, high ticket sales is much more about understanding how to provide value to customers. High ticket industries, such as some enterprise-level SaaS businesses, devote a significant part of their strategy on developing and showcasing their unique value propositions and other signals of worth.
Additionally, while the time spent during the analytical phases of the journey is much greater, that does not mean there’s more wiggle room for the company that sells premium products. There are always dozens of competitors and they are more often compared than in low ticket sales.
In other words, the process requires a fully optimized and squeaky clean approach to showcasing products. And that is just the start of the journey, albeit an important one as few companies make the cut.
Once the customer makes contact (or a sales professional outreaches them), a long process of maintenance and careful communication takes place. Any slight educational blunder, late reply, or sign of disinterest can turn a lead into a lost customer.
Finally, as mentioned previously, high ticket sales have a more impactful nurturing phase. Anyone who purchases a product above $1000 will expect to get some level of support after the process has concluded. Business software, for example, may come with dedicated account managers, dedicated customer support, and tutorials to ensure that customers stay loyal.
The 4 ways of high ticket sales
Out of all of the above, we can outline several essential strategies that a high ticket closer must employ to maintain some measure of success. While there are many more slight optimizations someone closing high ticket sales might make, the ones outlined below are foundational.
Personalization
Even in small ticket sales automated emails, SMS messages, and other outreach methods are losing their touch. According to Accenture’s 2018 Pulse Check survey, 92% of consumers would continue to do business with a company if they received personalized offers. Additionally, 36% would like companies to personalize their approaches even more.
Marketing surveys target regular consumers, but even those are illuminating, as high ticket item consumers will be similar, only with more strict requirements from customers. As such, a high ticket closer must be able to personalize every piece of communication.
Usually, that means analyzing any potential customers' needs and reaching out to them only when a high ticket closer has something that would match exactly that. Sending out automated communication (e.g., emails, SMS messages) or engaging in meetups and calls without prior preparation is a surefire way to lose a lead.
Communication
Customers expect a premium service and support process. One of the best ways for a high ticket closer to ensure that is to constantly maintain some line of communication. While they have to also avoid annoying the customer, that is often easy to do as a high ticket closer can always attempt to provide some sort of value with each message, call, or meeting.
High ticket closing, however, will rarely be made primarily through text-based communication. Professionals may outreach specific customers through such methods initially, but they shouldn’t be relied upon for further communication.
If remote communication is required, a high ticket closer should always opt for video calls, such as the ones provided by SnapCall. Not only are sales much more effective through calls, they also provide a better way to develop rapport and provide guidance.
Guidance
As mentioned above, a high ticket business should avoid using the regular sales tactics or, at least, use them sparingly. High ticket closing rarely revolves around consumers hunting for small discounts or special offers. In high ticket closing, value is simply understood differently.
As such, professionals should see themselves as guides rather than sales people. Customers simply cannot be tilted towards emotional purchases as they often have highly specific needs. If a product or service cannot match that, there’s no reason to continue pursuing a sale.
A high ticket closer should ensure they understand every nook and cranny of the business that employs them. Complete expertise of products, services, and use cases should be considered a necessity for the field.
Throughout the customer’s journey, a high ticket closer should find opportunities on how the product could provide them value. If some features are not necessary, the professional should look to find ways to make some sort of personalized deal or guide the customer towards a better solution.
Nurture
High ticket closing relies much more on maintaining great relationships. There may be hundreds of millions of people willing to spend $10 on a single item and only tens of thousands willing to spend $10 000 on an item of the same category.
Since finding a new lead is a painful process within high ticket closing, maintaining existing relationships becomes a necessity. Every customer who has already made a purchase should, if the product or service is applicable for that, receive some sort of offboarding experience and constant maintenance.
As such, a high ticket closing professional should keep a close list of customers that they may outreach whenever necessary, for example, when presented with an opportunity that may be relevant to the same person. Additionally, a high ticket closing professional should always be willing to provide their or the company’s contacts for the customer, so that they can receive service whenever needed.
Conclusion
All in all, high ticket closing is a lot different from most other sales approaches. It relies much more on the sales person working as a guide than someone pitching a product and service. Additionally, high ticket closing relies more on building relationships and maintaining them throughout many years.
A high ticker closer must always look for ways to improve their communication and overall service. It’s a field where only the best can truly shine and they have to be prepared to always learn and adapt.
