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The Lost Art of Closing

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The Lost Art of Closing

Winning the Ten Commitments That Drive Sales

Portfolio,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

For sales success, make your client – not your product and not you – the center of your conversations.

Editorial Rating

8

Recommendation

Sales impresario Anthony Iannarino believes many salespeople don’t know how to have productive conversations with clients, even though sellers’ words make or break sales. The typical salesperson might say, “What’s it going to take to get you to sign this contract?” In contrast, the salesperson could say, “Can you share your concerns with me so I can make sure this works for you?” This question focuses on the client’s needs and should result in useful information that leads to a sale. Iannarino’s bestseller, which outlines his well-developed closing strategies, provides numerous field-tested conversational nuggets salespeople can use to encourage clients to sign up. getAbstract recommends this manual to all B2B salespeople. 

Summary

“Always” or “Never” Be Closing?

Finding the best way to close a sale can be confusing for salespeople. Some experts say, “Always be closing.” Others say, “Never be closing.” What are salespeople to make of such conflicting opinions? Actually, sellers often get terrible advice, not just from frauds or inexperienced poseurs, but also from veterans in the field.

Pushy, manipulative salespeople usually work the always-be-closing side of the sales street. That advice feeds their insatiable hunger for commissions. These salespeople constantly press clients to agree to commitments before they’ve gained their customers’ trust, delivered value or earned permission to even make such requests.

These salespeople may try to roll over their clients’ often-legitimate concerns as they push hard to close. They see their clients’ concerns as immaterial. Nothing matters to them except closing.

The tide shifted with the development of “the Internet, social selling, content marketing and inbound” sales. Salespeople are no longer in charge. Today, clients hold the cards. Many salespeople have adjusted to this challenging environment by moving away from the always...

About the Author

Anthony Iannarino founded The Sales Blog, which draws more than 50,000 readers monthly. He leads a sales team, speaks to sales organizations and teaches part time at the Capital University’s School of Management and Leadership.

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