Since my life has been dedicated to sales and management it is not far-fetched to believe that I talk to quite a few sales persons a day. One subject that keeps coming up is “closes”.

It seems that sales persons are fascinated with all the different types of closes. Closes like the 3 point close, the automatic close, the Ben Franklin close, the assumptive close, even to the absurd, the hard of hearing close.

I hear you laughing.

Most sales people think that the close is a certain part of the presentation, normally at the end when they go for the final commitment. “The Specialist” does not agree! The close is not a part of your presentation. It is not an interchangeable part that you plug in and out with different customers. If, and I mean IF, you are a professional salesperson you already know that closing a prospect is a PROCESS! Now this is where the ultimate closing technique varies from level to level. Even the most professional salesperson believes that closing the prospect starts the minute you meet the person until they leave. That’s fine and dandy, however if you are ever to reach the ultimate level you will see that, unlike my peers in the industry, “The Specialist” starts closing the minute I leave the house to work and I don’t stop closing until my car enters my garage at night. You say why? It’s simple even though the lessons weren’t.

I hope we have all come to agree on the fact that a large part of sales is making people like you and making people feel good about themselves. Many times in my career someone I came into contact with during the day whether in a restaurant, gas station, convenient store etc. became my sale later that day, week, or month.

Last month I was in a restaurant and the young waitress really botched my breakfast order. Not once but three times! She just couldn’t get it right. I told her it was fine and left her a nice tip and told her just to keep on and she’d get it. On my way out I told her manager what a wonderful waitress she was and how great the service was. Later that week I was in a business helping a young man make a sale and just as we were at the end of the presentation a young girl came from a room in the back and excitedly shouted to her father who happened to own the business, Daddy, that’s the man I was telling you about that was so nice to me and probably saved my job! Needless to say the sale WAS MADE! Need I say more?

What I enjoy the most about being a real closer is that the more I practiced being nice to people and making them feel good about themselves the better I felt, and it became a way of life! That’s why a lot of my friends call me “The Closer”. I leave you with this thought…”So a man thinketh, he becometh.”

“The Specialist”