Sealing the Deal

p-19205There’s no way around it: those who aren’t extraordinary athletes or entertainers but who still want to get rich have to get good at sales. Whatever that may be, even for artists, or whoever. You have to more specifically not only become good at sales, but great at closing sales.

Now, how do you close a sale? There’s three or four ways to do it. The best way is the invitational close. ‘Do you like this? How does this sound?’ Doing this invites feedback. ‘If it sounds pretty good, why don’t you give it a try?’ Assume that when you’ve answered a question or an objection, it’s the equivalent of them having decided to buy.

Or you can use what’s called an alternative close. ‘Would you prefer this or that?’ You offer a choice between A or B. The probability of them picking one or the other goes up dramatically if they have a choice, and whichever one they say ‘Yes’ to, you’ve made a sale.

Here’s a neat trick from one of the masters, Brian Tracy: if you get the customer to give you a single piece of information, you’ve successfully used the power of suggestion. ‘How do you spell your last name exactly?’ If they give you the spelling of their last name, they’ve bought the product. It’s very powerful.

In the end, the most important quality for a sale’s success is boldness. All qualities are habits, habits of thought and action. Because of childhood conditioning, we have  fears of failure and rejection, but these are learned because children have no fears. We learn them as we grow up, but this also means we can unlearn them. The way you excavate the fear of failure and rejection is by doing the opposite of what you would do in a failure or rejection situation.

When we back away from fear, it grows and grows. Soon it will dominates your whole life, and it will paralyze you. But when you confront the fear it will get smaller and smaller and will become manageable. So for the rest of your life make a habit of doing the things you fear.

With time you will develop the habit of courage. You reach the point where you’re not afraid of anything. The key to your success as a person and as an entrepreneur is to develop the habit of courage. The way that  you attack every single situation of which you feel a bit scared or nervous will move toward control of the fear. You pick up the phone. You make the call. You knock on the door. You ask for the order.

Whenever you feel afraid, do that which you fear. In a week, a month, a year from now, your fears will diminish. As your fears go down, your confidence and your self esteem go up, and you start to feel fabulous about yourself. You start to feel unstoppable.

What were some of the fears you’ve had to overcome in your life that held you back from success? What once seemed like a mountain but now more resembles a molehill? Give us your feedback. We want to hear from you!