You Will Never Close The Deal Unless You Ask

Everything we do in life involves the sale of either a product or a service. While many professionals often cringe at agreeing with that premise, the reality is that in some manner or other, each of us need to sell either ourselves, or someone else, on either an idea, a service or a product.

Having trained salesman and marketers, as well as their managers, for over three decades, I have observed innumerable individuals who never achieve the results that others, who often appear to have less talents or abilities, end up with. Many marketers and salespersons make the mistake of painstakingly preparing and rehearsing their presentations (or "shpiels"), and often give a technically near-perfect presentation. However, often others with lesser presentations end up with far superior results.

The main reason for this often is something that is referred to as "closing," or "the close," or "the ask." When someone does not ask the person he is presenting to for some sort of commitment or agreement, he rarely will get it volunteered. Effective and productive presenters realize that one must ask something like, "Doesn't it make sense?" and wait quietly for a response before proceeding.

When these same people role play, or rehearse their technique, they nearly always do close. Then why don't they when the real opportunity comes up? At one point, I over-analyzed this situation nearly to death. I "bought into" all the philosophical "mumble-jumble" that is given by those without true experience or expertise, who have simply read or heard something somewhere. However, over time, I have come to a very simple reason why closing is not done in real-time situations. Many individuals have difficulty going outside their own personal comfort zones, to ask for the "sale" or "deal" or "agreement." When one does not ask, they almost never get to the "deal" stage.

The same is true in negotiations. I have conducted hundreds of negotiations in the last three decades. One only has a chance of getting any type of adjustment or concession during a negotiation if you ask openly for what you want.

Therefore, it is important that each of us understand that it is not the presentation that counts, as much as the "close." If you really want something, you must ask!