The “tie-down” is a transition technique used whenever you are talking to a prospect and trying to close business. It is actually designed to be delivered after a rebuttal or after a response to a buying question. What it does is ensures that your prospect acknowledges your rebuttal / response, and allows you both to size things up recognize what you are saying as true. Here's how the process works:

You have a prospect that has gone through a presentation, and you are now attempting to close business. Your prospect asks some buying questions and/or objections (to determine the difference, see my other article titled “Buying Questions Vs. Objections”) and you respond appropriately. After your response, you want to tie it down before proceeding, to make sure they are on the same page. A tie-down is delivered like this:

“Does that make sense?”

“Is that fair enough?”

“Do you see how that works?”

If your prospect is tracking with you, and you properly answered the buying question/objection, then they will answer “yes”. If not, they will say “yes,but…”. And yes buts will make you rich. Here's why: If a prospect is answering, for example “yes, but I have to talk to my spouse”, or “yes, but I can't pay cash for this thing”, then the prospect is actually giving you the opportunity to be creative and overcome that objection. They are participating in the buying process, which we as consumers love to do. We don't want to be sold, we want to feel that we are having a say in the purchase, and the way we do that is by offering buying questions and/or objections. If you can overcome and answer those questions/objections, then you will close business. The consumer is happy, because not only did they get something that they wanted, but they got to participate in the process of purchasing. You are happy too, because you closed business, you have helped a client to get what they needed, and hopefully your checking account is happy.

So to recap, here is how the whole process works (and at the end of this explanation, I'll even use a tie-down, just as an example):

your prospect attends some sort of presentation that informs them of how they can benefit from your product/service. Afterward, you proceed through the closing process. It is expected that they will issue both buying questions and objections. This is how the prospect will participate in the process, and should be welcomed. Then, you will answer those objections and questions appropriately, you issue a tie down, and you proceed with payment. And that's exactly how the transaction should work. Does that make sense?

Remember, it's a lot easier to hit a stationary target than to hit a moving target. So to put the odds of success in your favor, then simply aim at targets that don't move. And to make sure your target doesn't move, tie it down.