Over the last year we have been talking to a lot of great sales people. I had one observation that really stuck out. In most of my discussions I was given a great sales pitch on the product. I was bought in to making the purchase. When the meeting ended I was never asked if I wanted to buy. Its a concern when good people invest a lot of their time to make the pitch and then walk away without closing to an agreement to buy or agreement to next steps to progress.

In most of my meetings where I was not closed down to a next action I went away and did my own research and bought from a different source. The interesting thing is, if the original person who gave me the pitch had closed me, I would have paid a premium for the education they gave me on such a great idea. Because I was not closed to next action, I went on a procurement rally and created a bidding war for the lowest price. Even worse, I never asked the person who gave me the original pitch to participate because I did not think they wanted to sell the item to me.

In my early days of sales I fell into this very trap. However I was fortunate that the person who I was pitching to was very kind to me and told me where I nearly lost the sale.

This encouraged me to educate myself. Don't wait for somebody to educate you. It is a ruthless world out there.

My first read on closing sales techniques was Zig Ziglar. It may not be the bests read, everyone to their own. But there is one solid recommendation I would give, DO SOMETHING! Be careful about your own beliefs of your own abilities. It is what others perceive or experience from your interaction with them which is important. You may be surprised to hear that they did not experience what you thought you had shared.

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