“A– B – C. Always Be Closing.”

You may know that line from the infamous sales movie “Glengarry Glen Ross,” where Alec Baldwin plays himself. It’s a throwback sales training line from the 1960s. The problem is that some people are still using it.

Whenever I do a seminar, everyone wants to know the fastest way to close the sale, the easiest way to close the sale and the best way to close the sale.

REALITY: There is no fast way, no easy way and no best way.

However, there is a better way of thinking about it than as closing the sale. Once you understand what that way is, it will change your approach to the sale, for the better, forever.

It’s not the “close”; it’s the “open.”

From the moment you engage prospective customers, they’re beginning to make a judgment. First they judge you, then they judge what they’re buying, and finally they judge the company they’re buying it from. As I’ve said for years, the first sale that’s made is the salesperson (that would be you).

The secret of selling is four words: perceived value, perceived difference.

If your prospective customer perceives no difference between you and the competition, and perceives no greater value in what you’re offering, then all that’s left is price, and you will most likely lose the sale. Or if you win the sale, it will be at the expense of your profit.

There are two intangibles that, when combined, create a better chance of you completing the sale. They are “comfort” and “fit.” How comfortable were you with the prospective customer? How comfortable was the prospective customer with you? And was there a perceived fit? Did what you were selling fit with what the customer needed or wanted to buy?

Let me give you a pop quiz that will determine whether you are even ready to open.

Do you have a GREAT attitude? Do you have an impenetrable belief in your company, your products or services, and yourself? Do you also believe that the customer is better off having purchased from you?

How well have you researched both the company and the person you’re meeting with?

Do you know what their reasons for buying are? Do you know what their motives for buying might be? If you know their reasons and their motives, you will also know their urgency. NOTE WELL: Your reasons for selling pale in comparison to their reasons for buying.

When you first spoke on the phone with the prospects, was it a friendly encounter? Were you familiar with them? Were they familiar with you? Did you develop any rapport prior to arriving? Do you have anything in common?

Prior to your face-to-face appointment or your telephone appointment to complete the sale, and in addition to your preparation, you must have a goal for the customers to like you, believe you, have confidence in you and trust you.

SELF-TEST: Rather than me teaching you a closing question, here are some tough questions that you must ask yourself before, during and after every presentation you make. These questions, if answered positively in the mind of the prospective customer, will preclude you from ever having to “ask a closing question.”

• How ready were you?

• How friendly were you?

• How engaging were you?

• How different were you?

• How valuable were you?

• How compelling were you?

• How believable were you?

• How credible were you?

• How self-confident were you?

• How relatable were you?

• How trustworthy were you perceived to be?

It’s not the responsibility of the salesperson to close the sale. It is the responsibility of the salesperson to earn the sale.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2010 Jeffrey H. Gitomer