“Always Be Closing”

This is the often-quoted line from Alec Baldwin in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, which Baldwin’s sales manager character says while addressing his sales team.

Though I like the movie a lot, Baldwin’s character isn’t exactly an example of a great sales manager. There’s a lot of truth in his focus on closing, however. If you are in sales, it is important to close every conversation with a prospect by focusing on the best result for your client while advancing the process.

Every call should aid you in qualifying where you are in the sales process and forming a strategy to help you advance the deal to the next step. The importance of correctly asking the tough questions cannot be overstated. You must become fearless when it comes to answering objections because it is part of the process of getting to a better understanding of your client’s objectives.

It is also important to keep in mind that when closing every call you should also be asking for the order and moving closer to the sale.

I made the mistake of relaxing on this philosophy recently when dealing with a client who also happens to be an old friend. Though I met with him for several lunches over the past year, I failed to close the deal and ask for the order. Instead, I assumed that since I had already represented him before at his previous company, and since we had been friends since childhood, he would work with me if and when he needed a broker. Instead of putting my foot on the gas and moving forward, I eased off and started coasting.

Well, it turns out my friend’s landlord came to his company with a very aggressive offer for an early renewal and extension. Because I neglected to ask for the order and officially pitch my services, I never really got in the game and had no shot at the deal. I learned a valuable and hard lesson: always ask for the order, even with friends.

Tip O’Neill recalled a similar story in his autobiography. He ran for vice president of his high school class. After the election he ran into one of his neighbors, who had been able to participate because she worked in the school’s cafeteria. She told him she had voted for him – despite the fact that he had not asked her for her vote. Tip, surprised, responded that he didn’t think he needed to ask her since he always shoveled her driveway when it snowed in the winter and had been her neighbor since he was a little boy. She replied, “That’s all true, Tip, but people still like to be asked.”

It was a lesson he never forgot in his long career in politics.

Have a great weekend,
Ro