K, so I'm a fan of selling, whenever I come across a blog or an article about sales, I'm all in for learning something new.
On Friday, I ran across this . Personally, I'm sick and tired of reading sales/selling articles from people that don't have end user sales experience. Go ahead check out this persons LinkedIn bio here. I'll admit the bio is impressive and he seems to be a successful and great person, however where is the damn sales experience?
Is hard closing a bad thing?
What exactly is hard closing? If it's asking for the order more than twice, then I guess most of us that are successful are hard closers. You don't have to be pushy or rude to ask for the order on your timeline.
ABC
Delving deeper in to the blog, I also disagree with "Why always be closing doesn't work anymore". Closing comes in many shapes and forms in sales, you could be closing for the next appointment, or performing a trial close to see if the client is truly interested in your product or service. Heck, when was the last time you walked in an office and the CEO or buyer stated, "OK, I want to buy from you, write it up and I'll sign it"! Uh, never happened in my thirty six years of sales.
I understand that the process of sales has changed, we as sales people need to educate the buyer, find their pain, and provide data that will help the buyer make their decision.
What pisses me off the most is that the writer has not clue about selling on a daily basis. The ups and downs, those clients that call you in, along with six other vendors and then leads you down a path that never ends. Countless follow ups, emails and phone calls go unanswered. Eventually we get the hint and we go away. This is what you get from being wishy washy about closing.
Rude Closers
Now, I do know some "rude" closers, and I'm sure most of us do. I have no stomach for those sales people that lie, cheat and steal to get an order. I ran across an existing client the other day, that stated she hated the sales person from "XYZ", because they pressured her that she has to order NOW. Instead of the writer using "hard closers", maybe he should have used "rude" closers.
Why We Need to ABC
What I can tell you is that we always need to be closing. Whether it's for the next phone call, the next webinar, or the next meeting. We have to take the client to that next step, why not close for a demonstration of your products or services. Why not schedule that next webinar, why not ask if they are thinking about leasing or buying. These are legit trial closes. If you don't ask, you don't get.
I wonder if the writer of this blog ever had to make a sale in order to keep the lights on, make payroll or feed the family. From the looks of the bio, I'm guessing no. I'm tired of people who have not sold a thing in their lives stating that if you're a good closer (hard closers are good closers) that you are ruining your personal reputation and ruining your brand.
Personally, I would rather read blogs and articles from sales people that are "living the dream" and helping me with information that will help me close more orders.
I'm not an order taker, I'm a sales person. If that's the definition of Legacy Sales then I guess I'm it.
-=Good Selling=-
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