Secrets of Closing the Sale

by Zig Ziglar

You get up to leave and as you head for the door, you turn to the prospect and say, “Mr. Prospect, I’m embarrassed to ask you this, but it would mean a lot to my career if you would help me by answering a question [an amazing number of people are willing to help and will indicate this willingness].” You then say, “Obviously, you have not done any business with us today and that’s all right. I certainly don’t sell everybody. I had hoped you would buy because I thought our product fit your needs. However, you have chosen not to buy and I feel badly about it because I did not explain it thoroughly enough to make the benefits more obvious. It would really be helpful to me, as I call on other people, if you would identify the mistakes I made and where I dropped the ball as a salesman.” You will get an amazing number of answers, but in most cases they will say, “It wasn’t your fault at all. We didn’t buy because . . .” and at this point they will bring up the real reason. When this happens, you clap your hands or snap your fingers and say, “Oh, boy! Did I ever blow it! No wonder you hesitated to act until now! Had I been in your shoes, I would have done exactly the same thing. How could I have made such a mistake?” You quickly open your briefcase, give him the answer to the objection, and close by asking if this makes the difference in his decision. This doesn’t happen often, but from personal experience I can tell you there is the occasional sale which can be gained with this m...