In the third and final installment of the “Closing and the Classic Closes,” we will cover the final five of the fifteen closes. They are:  Tie Downs; What If…?; If I…Will You?; Reduce to the Ridiculous; and the Take Away. We hope you have enjoyed learning — or re-learning — these classic sales closes. Now employ them to increase your production. 

In this, the second installment of the “Closing and the Classics Closes,” we will discuss five more Closes and how you can use them on your desk.  They are:  The Call Back Close; The Similar Situation Close; The Lost Sale Close; The Secondary Question Close; and The Sharp Angle, or ‘Porcupine’ Close. Enjoy…

CLASSIC CLOSES: 6-10

6. Call Back

The odds are not in your favor when you get this request, but there is a way to handle the call when you do call back. For those of you who know of the principle of “White Heat,” keep in mind that we are going to attempt to raise the interest level above the “Buy Line.” This is such a prevalent topic in recruiting that we even have an expression for it. We say, “Time kills all of our deals.” That’s why calling back after a period of time is not a good thing. So, when you do call back you never ask if they have thought about the situation in the intervening time span. If you do, you are going to get the famous “Yes-No” response—“Yes I have thought about it; No I am not interested.” Instead you:

1. Introduce a new piece of information;
2. Present a condensed representation;
3. Follow with a new Close.

Only when you do those three things, do you have a chance, remote though it might be, to raise the interest level above the “Buy Line” and close the deal in your favor.

The phone rang. When I answered, the caller was anxious. He was very close to putting a deal together, but was stuck in the hiring process. I suggested he go into a “Negative Yes” closing sequence. He didn’t know what that was. I said, “OK, then let’s try a ‘Ben Franklin Balance Sheet’ instead.” He didn’t know that one either. And finally I said that was OK as well, just to remember the “Reduce to the Ridiculous” if the salary objection came up again. He didn’t know that one either. And so, I ended the call by scheduling a time when I could teach him the traditional SALES CLOSES.