The following is an excerpt from The Sell Smarter Collection.

“No” is just the beginning.

Sometimes we have the perfect sales meeting. We seemingly hit every hurdle in stride and deftly handle objections before they are even brought up. With meetings like this, we are so on our game, there is no way we can lose. We are Superman, Rambo and Gordon Gecko rolled into one.

As great as you know you are though, I am here to let some air out of your tires. If you got absolutely no objections and they just hopped in the boat, it was probably less than half sales skill and mostly the fact that they just wanted to buy.

Don’t get me wrong. After nearly twenty years selling the same market-driven product, I have been through my fair share of muffin markets.

The following is an excerpt from The Sell Smarter Collection.

Don’t forget to close

Would you ever consider working a full week then tell your boss to just keep the paycheck? Of course you wouldn’t. Occasionally, as salespeople, we do just this. We prospect, we set appointments, we pitch, and then we set a follow-up, all without closing. Just like working that forty-hour week, going through the entire sales process without actually asking for the business is one of the dumbest things we do to get in our own way as sales folks, yet we do it every day.

Not closing comes from a few places. All of which can be addressed and tweaked in your game.

One such place not closing comes from is not recognizing when the client is ready. This can be a tough one. Very rarely does the prospect ask us “So… what’s the next step from here?”.

The following is an excerpt from The Sell Smarter Collection.

Make friends with them. Don’t just sell them.

It’s a fact that people will buy from someone they like. One of the easiest ways to prove this is looking at the opposite statement for corroboration. People will rarely buy from someone they don’t’ like. Ever met a top salesperson that was a total dick? If so, did you observe them around their clients? I bet they were the exact opposite when in the zone. They flip the switch and become super personable when it counts. This is important. The key is, to be genuine.